Summer Storm
by The Meta Guy
Summary: The story of a girl who wants to see the world. (Nuzforums mirror)
1. Prologue: Hopes and Dreams

_Thunder._

 _Grey clouds roll in over the sleepy town. Children play in the streets, oblivious to the danger overhead, as their parents rush in to scoop them up and safely indoors. People and Pokémon out for a midday stroll turn tail and flee single-mindedly for the nearest cover-ants before the oncoming torrent. The elderly sit on their porches, staring into the sky at the tempest that now threatens. Never have they seen the like._

 _As if by magic, the sunlight fades, as a blanket of noonday shadow casts itself over the town. It engulfs the village in night, as bird Pokémon, thinking the sun has set, fall silent, their songs abruptly halted in anticipation for what comes next._

 _In the west of the town, the twin towers stand proud, almost defiant, in the face of the rolling behemoth. They refuse to bow to the oncoming squall; they have seen out far, far more terrifying threats in their day. It is as though they dare the thunderclouds to smite them._

 _The sun blinks out a last farewell as the clouds now fully envelop the city. There is no escape._

 _There is an eerie, pregnant silence. Then…_

 _Lightning._

 _The air fills with a sound like a gunshot. A brilliant, terrible flash pierces the darkness. The world brightens, then darkens again just as quickly._

 _The town watches, murmurs, waits. The offending bolt, though by now long gone, still remains in memory; its vengeance is now the stuff of myths. Another roll of thunder silences even the bravest among them, and they cower._

 _This is no ordinary storm._

 _The people continue to look about with unease, trying to see where the bolt struck. Had it hit the temple? Or perhaps the theater? Maybe it had even struck the Gym?_

 _Their answer comes soon after._

 _Fire._

 _The whispering and murmuring grow into shouting and screaming. The western tower has caught ablaze._

 _The flames flicker, a beacon against the premature night. Small at first, but as they watch it begins to swallow more and more. The tower's vulnerable wooden exterior is hardly a match. Soon nearly the entirety of the structure has disappeared into the inferno._

 _Citizens cry out in anguish. Some, on instinct, run outside, desperate to do something-anything. Others simply kneel, overcome with despair. Again, the thunder warns them away, and the sheep obey their shepherd._

 _The fire rages on. The light from the flames dances on the street, victorious. Then…_

 _Rain._

 _A single drop of water falls from the heavens-a single tear from the gods for the plight of their subjects. The drop lands in the center of town, splashes upward, and then is no more._

 _Then comes another drop. And then dozens more._

 _Soon, the downpour is thick and nearly opaque. The air fills with the sound of rushing liquid as the skies send down their condolences. The ground softens, the air gains a sickly sweet smell._

 _And the fire hisses._

 _The townspeople look on as the raindrops assault the towering blaze-a suicide mission, but one worth embarking upon. Steam billows from the structure as drop after drop falls from the skies into the infernal effigy. The thunder roars._

 _The fire repels the rain at first, but as more and more water descends upon it, it slowly but surely begins to lose ground. The flames pull away from their feast in the face of the onrushing tide, revealing little beyond charred stubs and exposed beams. The tower, once a tall, proud fixture, is now but a hollow, humbled shadow of its former glory-disfigured beyond repair._

 _The fire concedes more and more ground as the rain refuses to yield, until at last all that remains of the once-mighty monolith of heat and light is a small, scattered collection of small, nigh-insignificant bonfires, desperate to cling to what little they have left. Soon even these are gone._

 _The skies darken once more._

 _The rain continues for some time, persisting long after its job is finished. The streets begin to flood, untold ages of dust and filth swept away in an instant as the cleansing flow works its magic._

 _At long last, after what feels like forever, the rain begins to yield, as if sensing it is no longer necessary. The incessant downpour begins to slow, and the thunder, at long last, softens its tone. Soon, all that is left is a mere drizzle. The water flooding the streets ceases to flow with such great speed; some of it runs off into the lake, while the rest eventually settles into puddles for the children to splash in._

 _The last peal of thunder sounds, as if from miles away. As quickly as they converged, the clouds disperse. The sun peeks out once more, timid and meek in contrast to what had taken its place. The people now feel free to leave their homes again. Some go to stare mournfully up at the burned tower, while others simply decide to remain indoors. The children immediately run outside and resume their recreation, not knowing or caring for anything more._

 _Peace._

* * *

The dream faded, and with it any hope of deciphering its meaning.

Rain splashed against the window of a girl's bedroom. The storm had rolled in the previous afternoon, and even now, in the early hours of the morning, it showed no signs of letting up.

In the darkness, the teenager lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as the gentle downpour continued, her lilac hair splayed out on the pillow beneath her. The light from the moon outside cast a thin beam of light onto her face as she drifted in and out, contemplating what she'd seen.

As best she could remember, the dream had first come to her a year and a half or so ago. Since then, it had gradually forced its way into her subconscious. At first, it had only come to her once every few months. By degrees, though, it had started coming to her in her sleep more and more often-now once a month, now twice a month, now once a week. Now, she'd been having the dream almost every night for the last few weeks. For some reason, the image had burned itself so thoroughly into her mind that she simply couldn't escape it anymore. But what did it mean?

The tower...she felt confident she'd seen it somewhere before, or at least something like it. Something about it was particularly compelling to her, although nothing else in the dream seemed to suggest why that would be the case. It was all very odd.

The girl rolled onto her side to stare at the rest of her room, trying to find a way to go back to sleep. Her eyes panned over to her nightstand, where next to her alarm clock stood a small photo frame. The frame held a picture of her with her family-her mother, her father, and her older brother, along with their pets. She often remarked to herself how much she looked like the odd one out; her mom and brother looked nearly identical-same eyes, ears, nose, almost everything-and even Dad could pass for a biological parent. And then here she was, sticking out like a sore thumb. It bothered her sometimes, but she'd learned to live with it for the most part. If nothing else, the minor, momentary independence it granted when someone mistook her for being separate was somewhat refreshing. Almost like she was an adult.

And yet somehow, at the same time, it just made her hurt a little bit more.

Susan squinted at the photo, peering into her own eyes. Maybe she belonged with them, maybe she didn't. All she knew was that she'd give anything just to see her birth parents one time. Nothing against her current family, of course. She loved them, and they loved her. But whenever she looked at this picture in particular, she always felt a twinge of regret-regret that she couldn't remember a thing about her life before them.

What were her parents like? How did they talk? Were they nice? Were they even still alive? Nothing but questions without answers-questions she hoped would be resolved someday, but which for now continued to nag her every now and again. She had to have the answer...someday.

As she stared at the photograph, she heard a noise coming from beyond her door-from the kitchen, it sounded like. She chuckled to herself, grateful for the distraction. It seemed like Antoine was trying to make himself a midnight snack again. He thought he was being sneaky, but he wasn't fooling anyone. If only Mom and Dad were still awake-that would be funny to watch.

With a sigh, the girl rolled back onto her back and resumed staring up at the ceiling. She was going to miss Antoine when he left. He was a jerk sometimes, but she knew he meant well. He'd been so excited when he got the call from Prof. Elm last week; he'd been waiting for his chance ever since he turned sixteen, and now the time had come at last.

The Pokémon League challenge...the very idea was exciting to her. The chance to see Johto, meet new people, learn more about the world and yourself-it was practically everything she could ever have wanted. She was happy for Ant, sure, but she was also plenty jealous. What she wouldn't have given to be able to go out into the world herself. She'd make a great Trainer, she was sure of it.

 _Three more years, Susan,_ she told herself. _You've got three more years. You can wait that long._

But now that she thought about it...could she? Could she really?

Her eyelids drooped as sleep began to reclaim her. With a yawn, she drifted off once more into the realm of dreams.

* * *

Morning came in the usual way for the sleepy town of New Bark, and for most of its residents that was just fine. The muggy summer air was undercut by a cool, refreshing breeze, and the trees rocked gently from side to side, leaves fluttering against the wind. Dew clung to the bright green grass as the Pidgey in the treetops began their morning song.

Having finally emerged victorious from an epic struggle with her alarm clock's snooze button, Susan stumbled her way down the stairs, still half-asleep. Her nightgown nearly caught on the railing as she turned to walk into the kitchen.

As was usually the case, she had been the last one to wake up; her mother and Antoine were already seated at the table, while their father hunched over the stove, trying desperately not to burn the eggs for the ninetieth time. Over in the corner of the room, a small green sauropod was dozing off in front of the window, basking in the morning sunlight. Not far away, a rotund yellow rodent was busy examining the electrical outlets, sparks of energy leaping from its antenna-like whiskers.

"Look who finally decided to join us," Antoine said. His baritone voice carried just the slightest hint of a fading accent. "I thought you were joking when you said you felt like you could sleep until noon."

"You don't get to talk." Susan stifled a yawn. "Aren't you the one who's always whining about how school starts so early?"

"Well, yeah. But that's because it does." Antoine leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head as a smug smile wrapped his face. "But at least I don't have to worry about that anymore, eh?"

Susan only groaned in response as she flopped down in one of the vacant chairs at the table. Across from her, their mother looked up from the morning newspaper and smiled at her.

"It'll be okay, my dear." She had the same accent as Ant did, except hers was more prominent. It carried a vague air of well-meaning eccentricity. "You'll be able to go on your own travels soon enough."

"I know, but…" Susan trailed off. She wasn't really sure how she'd planned to end that sentence anyway. Antoine leaned in, his voice softening.

"Don't worry, Su," he said. "I promise I'll keep in touch. We've got phones, remember? I'll send you pictures."

"Yeah…" _But it wouldn't be the same,_ she wanted desperately to add, only ceding to her better judgment.

"And besides," their dad chimed in from across the room, "you've still got Basil to take care of. He isn't going anywhere."

Upon hearing his name, the Chikorita looked up, staring at his humans with curiosity as he tried to figure out who was calling him. When he saw Susan, the small Grass-type gave her a drowsy cry of recognition, before returning to his morning nap.

Susan remained silent, and decided to let the issue drop.

Once the family had finished their breakfast (for once in his life, Mr. Derrick had managed to serve a reasonably cooked plate of eggs, albeit with a distinct lack of salt this time), their mother spoke up again.

"Antoine, remember, you're due to meet the professor at ten o'clock. You should go get ready."

Ant didn't need a second invitation; he jumped up from the table and bolted out of the room, startling Basil awake with the sudden movement. Momentarily, Susan heard the harried thumps of the young man stomping up the stairs. With a sigh, she began to stack everyone's plates to take them into the kitchen.

"Oh, and Susan," Mom continued, "I have a favor to ask of you today." She stood, wiping bits of egg off of her clothing. "I need you to go out to Cherrygrove and pick up an order for me in a couple of hours."

Susan froze in place. It took all she had to keep hold of the plates. Her face flushed as she whirled around to face her mother again.

"Wait, y-you mean…" she stammered. "You mean you're...sending me out by myself?"

"Well, not by yourself, technically. You'll need to take one of the Pokémon with you." Mom walked over to Susan and gently lifted the plates out of her daughter's hands as the latter stood there, dumbfounded. She brought the plates over to the sink and began rinsing them. "We're switching Ampere to a new brand of food with more iron in it. The nurse said it would help with his conduction problems."

"Why don't you bring Basil along?" Her dad had jumped in at precisely the right moment once again. "God knows he needs the exercise."

Susan felt herself light up. "R-really?" All at once, her mood had shifted, and she sported a big, goofy grin. "You're serious? You're going to let me do this myself? I mean, with just me and Basil?"

The Chikorita in question, having now heard his name mentioned several times in relatively short order, had now climbed to his feet and was nuzzling against Susan's ankles, his leaf twitching with excitement.

Dad chuckled. "Sure. Unless you don't feel up to it, that is…"

"No, I'm up to it! I'll do it! Thank you!" Susan gave her parents a hug before rushing up to her room just as Antoine had.

It wasn't much, but all things considered, it was more than enough.


	2. Chapter 1: A Simple Errand

p dir="ltr"The still-wet grass along Route 29 glistened in the mid-morning sun as the day began to pick up steam. The morning breeze had developed into a brisk draft, and the trees were now bending and swaying in the rushing wind. Just off the well-worn dirt path, a sea of green rippled off into the distance. The nearly-deserted route seemed, for once in its existence, almost pristine-as though beckoning yearning hearts to take their first step into the unknown./p  
p dir="ltr"Susan inhaled the sweet summer air. She felt the wind at her back as she gazed out at the road before her. In one hand, she clutched the receipt her mother had given her for the order she was supposed to claim in Cherrygrove; in the other, she held her Chikorita's Poké Ball. Her white dress fluttered in the breeze as she stood there, still staring out into the wild./p  
p dir="ltr"What dangers she might face, what wonders she could behold...the thought of what awaited her on her own journey seemed ever so slightly more real in this moment. Three years would be a long time to wait, certainly. And a lot would change between now and then; perhaps she'd be wiser then, or more wary. But for the time being, she could at least pretend. Brief and mundane though it would be, this was to be her first real taste of adventure-a taste to which she knew she was bound to become addicted./p  
p dir="ltr""Come on, Basil!" Susan called back to the family pet. "Let's hurry up and get to Cherrygrove."/p  
p dir="ltr"The Chikorita, for his part, was having none of this "hurrying up" business. He simply lay there in the grass, content to let the day pass him by. He stared off into the distance at nothing in particular, his leaf bending and waving lazily in the breeze./p  
p dir="ltr""Basil, come on already." Susan crossed her arms. "This is no time to lay about. We've got a job to do."/p  
p dir="ltr"Basil looked up at his owner, blinking, as though trying to understand her words. He stared at her for a moment, head cocked, before returning his attention to whatever he had been staring at./p  
p dir="ltr"Susan let out a groan. "God, you're impossible sometimes." With a huff, she walked back to the small Grass-type and scooped him up into her arms. The Chikorita squirmed in protest, letting out a disgruntled chirp./p  
p dir="ltr""Oh, hush." Susan readjusted him in her arms. "You asked for this."/p  
p dir="ltr"The Chikorita continued to struggle for a moment, but eventually relaxed, sensing that escape was impossible. With some difficulty, he nestled himself in her arms, releasing what sounded like a contented sigh./p  
p dir="ltr""That's better. Now let's get moving." Having double-checked that she was still holding the receipt, Susan took one more look back at her house, then took a deep breath as she returned her focus to the road ahead. emHere we go,/em she thought to herself as she took her first steps forward./p  
p dir="ltr"The still-damp dirt beneath her feet made a soft squishing noise as she walked along the path. Small clumps of mud clung to her sneakers with each step as she kept her head down, trying to avoid making eye contact with the numerous other people on the trail. She couldn't afford to get in any Pokémon battles just now; even if she had been legally recognized as a trainer, there was almost no way Basil would be of much use in a fight. He'd gotten too used to lazing about the house to be anywhere near fighting fit. She looked down at the Chikorita, who was clearly enjoying his free ride./p  
p dir="ltr""You realize you're going to have to walk all the way back home, right?" She picked at a small dried leaf that had gotten caught in his fur. "I'm not carrying you and a big bag of food at the same time." Basil snorted, as if in disbelief. Spoiled as always./p  
p dir="ltr"They continued the miniature odyssey in relative silence as Susan drank in this fleeting feeling of independence. Surely, if this went off without a hitch-and somehow she knew it would-mom and dad would have no choice but to let her do this sort of thing more often, right? Before long, maybe they'd even let her go farther than just Cherrygrove. Maybe she'd be able to visit Violet City by herself, and-dare she dream?-maybe even Blackthorn, someday. The thought excited her terribly; to be able to brave the dangerous terrain that lay in wait, with nothing but her wits and her Pokémon to aid her as she faced the harsh whims of nature, would certainly make for a life-changing experience./p  
p dir="ltr"She gazed off toward the north. Blackthorn was just up that mountain path to their right. She could surely make it if she wanted to. All it would take was a bit of climbing. But, with a heavy sigh, Susan begrudgingly allowed reality to set in once more. It would never happen, at least not for a long time, and she knew that all too well. Her parents, and Antoine for that matter, were just too scared to let her go out too far by herself. And somehow she knew that going up that way without permission would inevitably lead to bad things-the karmatic sort of bad things that always seemed to happen to children who disobeyed their parents. Susan didn't really understand her parents' concern, but even she could appreciate the value of not being on karma's bad side./p  
p dir="ltr"She knew in the back of her mind that she was being a bit silly about all this, of course. She could have easily applied for a provisional trainer license if she'd wanted to, or even thought to. Sure, it wouldn't have been quite the same as being a full-fledged trainer-she wouldn't be able to reach certain places, and there'd be limits on the number and frequency of official battles she could participate in, but it'd be better than nothing, right? Alas, the registration deadline had long since passed, meaning that was no longer an option./p  
p dir="ltr"Trying to push the regret out of her mind, Susan squinted down the road, shifting Basil's weight to one hand as she used her other to shield her eyes from the sun. In the distance, she could just barely make out the outline of a series of variously-colored roofs. The large path which the route followed seemed to grow more and more narrow as they walked, eventually morphing into a proper stone path. The town seemed nearly empty, but in a sleepy, benign way, like one of those tiny villages you heard about in fairytales./p  
p dir="ltr""You see that, Basil?" Susan lifted Basil above her head to give him a better vantage point. "We're almost there." She felt the small sauropod wriggle in her hands, squeaking in protest. With a giggle, she pulled Basil back down. "Sorry, buddy. I forgot you don't like heights."/p  
p dir="ltr"Before much longer, they had arrived in the heart of Cherrygrove. A salty, stiff sea breeze blew in from the western coastline, lending the little hamlet its own distinct aroma. Susan had been here before, but never on her own; though she was familiar with the town, the absence of her parents or brother nearby made the place seem strangely alien at the same time. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she walked down the street past the Pokémon Center./p  
p dir="ltr""I don't think you need medical attention, right?" she asked Basil, patting the small Grass-type's head. "Let's see if we can find that supply store. I emthink/em we're going the right way..."/p  
p dir="ltr"Susan scoured the streets for the Poké Mart, taking great care not to jostle the occasional passerby as she went. As she continued walking, though, a feeling of unease crept across her mind. Maybe it was the stillness of the town, or perhaps she was just nervous about being here by herself. Or come to think of it, maybe Dad hadn't cooked those eggs properly after all./p  
p dir="ltr"Whatever the reason, Susan now suddenly found herself walking quite fast indeed. She tried not to acknowledge her own heartbeat picking up, or that she was now attracting an occasional odd look. The optimism she'd had just moments ago was gone; all she wanted now was to find this store and be done with this errand./p  
p dir="ltr"And it certainly didn't help that it felt like someone was following her./p  
p dir="ltr"On impulse, she whirled around, causing Basil to squeak at the sudden change of direction. She scanned the route she'd just traveled, desperate to uncover the mysterious person she was sure was trailing her. But there was no one; just a few ordinary people, going about their lives./p  
p dir="ltr"Susan took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths. She was overthinking this. There was nobody out to get her, nobody trying to stalk her. She was fine. She was just an ordinary girl, just like everyone else here. She had nothing to worry about./p  
p dir="ltr""Hey, is everything all right?"/p  
p dir="ltr"Susan nearly jumped at the sound of the voice behind her. Saying a quick prayer and stroking Basil for comfort, she turned back around to face her addresser./p  
p dir="ltr"Before her stood a boy about her age, perhaps slightly older. He was a few inches taller than her, but not to the point of towering over her. His dark brown bomber jacket was half-buttoned, revealing a black undershirt; the coat matched perfectly, almost too perfectly, with his reddish brown hair. From his neck hung a necklace, attached to which was a large, oddly-shaped red charm. Something about him felt vaguely unsettling, although-oddly-not in an especially bad way./p  
p dir="ltr"She cleared her throat. "I-I'm fine, thanks," she began. "I'm just looking for the Pokémon supply store. Satoshi's, I mean. You know, the big one?"/p  
p dir="ltr"The boy shifted his weight as he thought. "Satoshi's? Let's see here…" He eventually shook his head. "I think you went too far. It's back down that way a little bit." He pointed in the direction from where she'd come. "You'll want to hang a right at the police station. It'll be the third street on your left. You can't miss it from there."/p  
p dir="ltr"Susan looked back in the direction the boy was indicating. Sure enough, now that she looked, there was the distinctive signage peeking over the rooftops: a stylized Rhydon giving a thumbs-up. She laughed in relief./p  
p dir="ltr""Oh, right. Of course. Sorry about that." Susan adjusted Basil in her arms. "That was a little silly of me. I guess I got distracted and missed my turn. Thank you."/p  
p dir="ltr""No problem." The boy smiled. "I'm glad I was able to help. Hope you find what you're looking for."/p  
p dir="ltr"Susan nodded, then started to turn away. But before she could take more than one step, she heard the boy call out to her again./p  
p dir="ltr""Hey...I just noticed something about you."/p  
p dir="ltr"Puzzled, she turned back to the boy, who was staring at her with a look of wonder on his face. She felt her nerves rising again. Against her better judgment, she gulped down her fear and responded: "...And what is that?"/p  
p dir="ltr"The boy didn't say anything at first. He merely looked her up and down, as if searching for a bug that had crawled onto her dress. Then, after what felt like ages, he finally spoke up./p  
p dir="ltr""You're like me, aren't you?"/p  
p dir="ltr"Susan blinked. "...What? What are you talking about?"/p  
p dir="ltr"The boy shook his head with a sigh. "Nothing. Forget I asked."/p  
p dir="ltr""But-" Susan started to object, but the boy turned his back before she could speak. "Hey! Get back here! What do you…"/p  
p dir="ltr"She trailed off as it became clear the boy wasn't planning on answering her question. He merely continued walking away, off toward the seashore./p  
p dir="ltr"Susan huffed. emHow rude,/em she thought to herself. She turned back and headed back the way she came, as per the directions she'd been given. She was beginning to think this errand had been a mistake./p  
p dir="ltr"As she pressed on, the question the boy had asked her echoed in her mind. What had he meant by that-"you're like me"? What about him was she apparently like? And why would he have said that to a complete stranger?/p  
p dir="ltr"Basil chirped in her arms as they walked, snapping Susan out of her thoughts. She stroked the Chikorita gently, causing him to make what sounded like a purring noise as she did so./p  
p dir="ltr""I don't know either, Basil," she told him, almost whispering. "I don't know either."/p 


	3. Chapter 2: Find Them

The sun had crept into the middle of the sky by the time Susan started on her way back home, eradicating the last trace of the early morning rain. The bag of specialty food she'd picked up was much bulkier than she had expected, meaning she had little recourse beyond hefting it over her shoulder on the way home. She was frankly surprised she could even lift the thing, although she supposed the bag's weight was offset somewhat by the malleability of its contents.

Her mind was still hard at work trying to process the events of the day. At her feet, Basil trotted along the grass, occasionally stopping to take rests in the middle of the path. It was as though he was actively trying to slow her down, Susan concluded after the fifth time this happened.

"Seriously, Basil, you're not being a team player here." Susan readjusted the bag on her shoulder. "You're lucky I don't just leave you behind, the way you keep stopping for rests. I know you can move quicker than this."

The small beast's only response was a defiant yawn.

It must have taken them twice as long to return home as it had to reach Cherrygrove in the first place, but at last Susan saw their house on the horizon. The day had begun to ebb now, and the sun drooped behind them as afternoon had given way to evening. Surely Antoine would have returned from the lab by now. Susan wondered what it had been like-whether the professor had been his usual dorky self, or if he'd been serious and grave like he could be on occasion. And above all, she just had to see which Pokémon he'd chosen. He'd always liked Water-types, so maybe he'd gone with a Squirtle. Or perhaps they'd imported a more exotic batch of Pokémon-maybe he'd been able to befriend a Mudkip, or even a Froakie? Antoine would love a Froakie, she was sure. As much as he talked about Kalosian soccer, he'd surely take any connection to the place he could get.

With Basil trotting up behind her, Susan walked up the front steps and turned the knob, breathing in a sigh of relief as the air conditioning washed over her, banishing the hot and sticky summer air from her mind. "I'm home!" she called out.

"Welcome back, dear," her mother replied from the couch, where Dad and Ant also sat. "Thank you for doing that for me. You can drop the food by the fridge."

Susan complied with the request, heaving the food bag to the ground. In an instant, Ampere had scurried up and was sniffing at the bag with curiosity. Susan chuckled at the Dedenne, then turned her attention to the living room. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I just got back from the lab. They let us pick our first Pokémon." Antoine gestured to the floor in front of them. "Look!"

Susan looked, and saw something she hadn't quite been expecting. Sitting on the carpet was a small, blue reptilian creature with an elongated snout and ridges down its back. The creature looked up at Susan and smiled, revealing a row of undoubtedly sharp teeth.

"The professor said this was called a 'Totodile,'" Ant explained. "Apparently they're found up near the Lake of Rage, or at least they are in the wild." He reached down and extended a finger toward the baby crocodile, who made a playful nip at it. "And he's a Water Pokémon, too. Pretty cute, isn't he?"

"Uh...I guess?" To be honest, "cute" hadn't been the first word to come to mind, although she could certainly see a bit of awkward charm in the little thing. She knelt down closer to the Totodile's level to examine it more closely.

Meanwhile, Basil, who had been studying the new arrival for a while now (Ampere was still concerned only with the bag of food), chose this moment to creep up toward the Totodile. The Chikorita sniffed at him, trying to determine something, before letting out an inquisitive chirp. The Totodile responded with what sounded like a high-pitched cross between a squeak and a grunt, as it returned the sniffing in kind.

"Aww, look," Dad chimed in. "They're communicating."

Whatever communication there was must have gone awry, however, for as soon as he said this, the Totodile opened its jaws and clamped them down on Basil's leaf.

" _Kylian! Bad!"_ In a flash, Antoine had descended on the Totodile, grabbing him around the waist and trying to break his grip. Kylian did his best to keep hold of Basil, who was squeaking and wriggling in distress as he tried to pull away. Reacting on instinct, Susan reached in and grabbed Basil's leaf, trying to hold it in place as Ant pulled the Totodile away. After a moment, Kylian relented, releasing his hold on the Chikorita and stepping back. Antoine promptly let go of the Totodile, stretching out his arm to keep the two Pokémon separated.

"What did it do that for?" Susan felt her panic morph into anger. "It could have hurt Basil just now!" She pulled Basil away to examine his leaf; apart from a few teeth imprints, the bite didn't appear to have left any lasting damage. This revelation did nothing to ease her nerves.

"Sorry. I didn't think that would happen." Antoine gave Kylian a disciplinary tap on the snout. "The professor said Totodile like to bite things they don't recognize. I guess he was just trying to be friendly."

"Well, I'd prefer it if he tried a little less."

Basil himself, having now recovered from his shock, walked up to the now docile Totodile. He stared at the crocodile for a moment. Then, with a sudden movement, he swung his head around, bringing his leaf across to swat Kylian in the face. The Totodile recoiled as though he'd been punched, before shooting a mean look across at his counterpart.

" _Basil!_ That wasn't very nice either." Susan picked up the Chikorita and pulled him away.

Antoine chuckled. "I'm sure they'll get used to each other eventually. Maybe once Kylian's matured a bit, anyway." He rubbed his Totodile on its cheek. "I'm sure we'll come back to visit every once in a while, won't we, boy?"

"Well, hopefully you can teach it some manners as well," Susan replied, reaching over and joining in the petting of the small reptile. She heard a huff behind her, but chose to ignore it. Basil being jealous was just a fact of life at this point.

She chuckled inwardly at the irony as she remembered her own feelings that morning. The Chikorita was just imitating what he knew best.

* * *

The rest of the day thankfully passed without incident. Though they kept their distance from one another, Kylian and Basil had no further altercations. Instead, most of that evening was spent on finalizing Ant's supplies and preparations. There was only so much they could do for him before he would have to make his own way the rest of the way, but Mom and Dad were bound and determined to stretch his backpack as far as it would go with equipment and other essentials. Once his bag was filled and they'd had a filling supper, Antoine went to bed early, with Susan not far behind.

As she lay there in her bed, trying at the same time to fall asleep and stay awake, she couldn't help but reflect again on what had happened that day. The dream that morning, the strange boy in Cherrygrove...it was all fairly cryptic as far as she was concerned.

"You're like me." What did that even mean? She couldn't remember any similarities between her and the boy, at least not outwardly. Maybe he meant their age? They certainly seemed to be around the same age, at least at first glance, but then why remark on it in such a roundabout way?

Susan rolled onto her side and stared at the picture on her nightstand again. Maybe it was just commentary on how odd she looked compared to other people; he _had_ stuck out somewhat. And though colors like blue and pink and purple hair were commonplace among the higher echelons of Pokémon trainers, she had to admit that her own shade of lilac was a bit of an outlier even under that criterion.

She felt her eyelids grow heavy. She really needed to quit worrying about all this, she reasoned with herself. All that really mattered was that she get something resembling a decent night's sleep. Relenting at last, she let her eyes droop shut as she began to doze.

 _She floats in the void, unaware of where or when she is. There is nothing, nobody, for her to latch onto. She just drifts there, without a care, in the embrace of the night._

 _Then comes the voice._

Child.

 _It's a peculiar voice-soft and nurturing, yet with an underlying grandeur; the voice of a higher being comforting a wayward foundling. The voice continues._

Seek that which must be found. You have not been forgotten.

 _She looks around, trying to find the source of the voice. But there is none. All before her is blank, silent. There is nothing._

 _And yet, it persists._

Your purpose is greater than you can know. Awaken, and return to those you have lost.

 _The void is illuminated. In an instant, the dark becomes light. She lifts an arm to shield her eyes from the brilliance. Before her, a sudden apparition: two figures, silhouetted in the radiant glow. She cannot see their faces, nor anything else; all she knows is that they are there, so real she can almost touch them._

 _The silhouettes seem to stare at her, boring into her very soul with their nonexistent eyes. She feels something within her begin to stir as she stares at them, trying to identify them._

 _The voice makes a final exhortation._

Find them.

 _And then no more._

Susan woke with a start. Panting, she stared into the shadows of her room, illuminated only by the thin beams of moonlight filtering in through the blinds of her window. She snapped her head left and right, in a frantic bid to ensure she was alone. When she was satisfied that all was as it should have been, she took a deep breath.

The two figures...there had been something about them-something different. Susan had felt it, in her very soul. Those had to be-no, surely not. Why would they be her parents? The idea was preposterous; she couldn't even remember what they looked like.

Then again, maybe this dream was more than just a random smattering of images. Maybe this one…

She shook her head. This day had only brought questions-questions that she knew couldn't be answered. What was the importance of the tower from that morning? Who was that boy, and why did he behave so oddly? Who were those figures, and how and where was she supposed to find them? And above all...

 _Why can't I just have normal dreams like everyone else?_ she wondered to herself.

* * *

It was far too early in the morning when Antoine had decided to set out. Nevertheless, Susan had made sure to be there to see him off. Sure, she was half-asleep, but she was present, and that was all that mattered. Their mother had been up almost as early as Ant had been, and was currently in the midst of what sounded like an interrogation.

"And you're sure Violet City is where you need to go first?"

"That's what the professor recommended. And then from there I can head pretty much anywhere."

"You've got your license with you, yes?"

"Right here. 'Antoine Germain, Official Pokémon Trainer.' Nice ring to it."

"You and your Pokémon both have enough food?"

"At least for a week or two, and from there I can pay my own way for a while. Especially if I win plenty of battles."

"What about spare clothes? Do you have any extra-"

"Mother, I'll be fine. I promise." Antoine laughed. "I get that you're worried, but I've got Kylian with me. I'll be okay."

Mom sighed. "If you're sure, then I suppose I trust you." She went in for a hug, which Antoine returned. "Good luck, my son. I'm so proud of you. May the Golden One watch over you."

"Thanks, mom." Ant returned her bittersweet smile. He looked over at Dad and gave an understanding nod. Then he looked at Susan, who had carried Basil outside with her. He reached in for a hug of his own, a hug which she was barely able to reciprocate thanks to the Chikorita in her arms.

"Just be safe, okay?" she whispered, shifting herself to keep from crushing Basil between them. "You can do this."

"Thanks, Su," he whispered back. "I'll do my best." He pulled back slightly and smiled again. "And don't worry. I'll keep in touch. Promise."

Susan inhaled and nodded. His reassurances helped somewhat.

With his farewells said, Antoine walked over to pick up his backpack. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed his Poké Ball off to the side. Out popped his Totodile, who looked up at his trainer with pride. Ant nodded down at the small reptile. Then, with a deep breath of his own, he began a deliberate walk toward the entrance to town, beyond which lay a brave new world.

Susan felt her heart pang as Antoine walked away. It was quite silly, she knew; he'd promised to keep them updated. But there was always something about saying goodbye that she'd never been able to grasp. Even so, she felt something within her begin to crystallize. Perhaps there was more that needed to be done here. Maybe there was something she could act on after all.

* * *

With Antoine no longer around to provide interesting ways to pass the time, the day progressed far more slowly than usual. With most of her friends otherwise occupied for the summer, Susan had been relegated to spending much of the season at home-an arrangement that suited her somewhat poorly, but with which she coped as best she could.

She wasn't sure when she asked the question that made her decide her next course of action, but it had to have been somewhere around midday.

"Hey," she asked out loud to neither of her parents in particular, "do you guys remember my original parents? The ones who put me up for adoption, I mean. What were they like?"

Though she'd hoped to hear one or both of them launch into a tale about how they knew her parents-or even just an anecdote from when they'd adopted her-her question was instead met with an awkward silence. Her dad coughed, but said nothing at first. Instead, it was her mother who took up the response.

"Well, you see, dear…" She spoke slowly, as if choosing her words with care. "We did not really...well, _meet_ your parents."

"Oh." Not the answer she'd been hoping for. "But...but what about the adoption agency? They told you about them, right?"

"Eh...not exactly." Dad rustled the newspaper. "In a way, you just sort of fell into our lap, so to speak. We felt it was the right thing to do to take care of you, so we did what we needed to do to make sure we did it the right way, and that was that."

"But you didn't know anything? I mean, at all?"

"What is this sudden interest?" Mom raised an eyebrow. "Nothing wrong with curiosity, but you seem to be especially intent today."

"Just curious. It's just been on my mind, that's all." She was on the point of telling them about the dream from last night, but promptly decided against it. If they didn't know anything as it was, telling them would solve nothing.

In fact, the more she thought about it, maybe she was better off solving this mystery herself.

She wasn't sure precisely when she made the decision to run away. But looking back on it later, she would eventually come to the conclusion that this conversation had to have been the catalyst. What she understood-and what she knew her parents would fail to understand-was that something about the last dream had been different from all the ones before. Until now, the strange dreams she'd had, notably the one with the tower that had been appearing in her sleep more and more lately, were simply images. They played out before her as vividly and as realistically as if she had been there herself, but she had always been a passive observer in them, unable to affect or change anything. But now, with this new dream-could she even call it that? It felt more like a message-she now had agency. Purpose. Freedom.

She had no exit strategy, no plans for moving beyond Violet City, no backup if things went wrong-nothing. Her only recourse was to find Antoine and explain her situation. She could only hope that he would be sympathetic; then again, what would he do if he happened across his kid sister in Violet City without prior warning? Send her back home through the wilderness by herself? Unlikely.

And so, that night, after her parents had gone to bed, Susan decided to put what little plan she had into motion. It was a stupid plan-ill thought out, questionably executed, and with no clear end goal. She knew this, and yet she also knew she had no choice. There was no use waiting on the wheel of fate to align so that time would solve her problem for her. She needed decisive action, and now she was going to generate it herself.

Careful to avoid making any noise, she crept out of her room and into the kitchen, where she shoveled indiscriminate handfuls of non-perishable food from the cupboards into her favorite backpack. When she was satisfied that she had packed enough to last for at least a few days-plenty of time in which to catch up to Antoine, she hoped-she crept back into her bedroom to toss in a few other essentials: her ID, her phone, her wallet, a change of clothes, a handful of spare Poké Balls she'd found lying around, and a handful of other minor trinkets she probably didn't need, but wanted to keep around anyway. Whatever she'd forgotten, she reasoned, she could just buy later, or would be able to rely on a Pokémon Center for.

With this settled, and having changed into clothes far more suited for travel than her nightgown, she faced her greatest task: convincing Basil to join her.

"C'mon, boy," she hissed at the sleeping Chikorita. She tapped his head, trying to wake him up. Inevitably, this failed; Basil continued to snooze away. "Basil, come on, we have to go! Please, wake up already!" Her whispers fell on deaf ears.

With a sigh, Susan turned to the one thing she knew would wake him up. Digging into one of the pockets on her bag, she carefully picked through the mass of berries she'd piled into it and extracted one in particular: a pink, crescent-shaped berry with a splash of yellow concentrated at the very tip. She held it out toward the Chikorita, trying to waft its scent into his nose.

Within moments, Basil had begun to stir, under the subconscious influence of his favorite treat. Before long, he was beginning to wake up, if not entirely aware of his surroundings besides the beloved fruit. With a little more coaxing from Susan, Basil finally saw fit to stand to his feet, a little wobbly from having just been awakened.

"Thanks, Basil." Susan fed the Chikorita the berry and gave him a pat on the head. The treat seemed to wake him up a bit, as he chomped down on the Mago with an uncharacteristic eagerness. As he chewed, she scooped Basil up into her arms. His Poké Ball was in her parents' room, which meant that trying to retrieve it would instantly scuttle the entire procedure. Basil would just have to learn how to walk long distances, she decided. She certainly wasn't about to bribe him with Mago berries at every turn; they were expensive, prohibitively so, especially for someone who was about to have limited financial stability.

With the last preparations complete, there was nothing else for it. She needed to make Cherrygrove before dawn if she wanted to have any chance of catching up to her brother. If she tarried too long, Ant would move on to the next town on his itinerary, and she'd be lost in an unfamiliar city with no lifelines whatsoever. The thought was enough on its own to nearly make her reconsider; nevertheless, she remained resolute. She was following a higher calling. Or, at least, she hoped she was.

The front door creaked as she opened it into the crisp midnight air. Her blood ran cold at the sound-surely this was where it would all go wrong, where her parents would awaken and force her to abandon this wild flight of fancy. In a way, part of her hoped they would. Maybe she was being ridiculous about this whole thing after all. Maybe she was even crazy. Any second, they'd be right there, asking her what she was doing halfway out the front door in the middle of the night, and she wouldn't have an answer. They'd ground her-a week, maybe two-and that would be the end of it. And eventually, she'd forget all about these dreams.

But as she stood there in the frame of the door, it dawned on her that her parents weren't there to stop her. Short of purposefully trying to wake them up, there was nothing she could do now that would alert them to her half-baked ruse.

She took in a deep breath. The summer night was cool, yet muggy, and the air stuck to the inside of her lungs as she inhaled. With a single, slow movement, she reached back and closed the front door behind her. The soft _click_ was the last of the matter. There was no turning back now, surely.

Susan's heart raced as she took her first, tentative steps out into the world-her first steps as an outlaw, she thought to herself. For now she had left the realm of safety; from this point, she was well and truly on her own.

Susan took one long final look at the house she knew and loved-its rugged front lawn, the spacious front porch on which she and Antoine used to play, the flower beds Mom and Dad had planted that spring. At last, she forced herself to look away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to nobody-more to herself, really. "I'll be back someday. I promise. But I have to do this." She wasn't quite sure anymore whether she was trying to convince herself more so than her undefined listener. "I have to do this."

She stood there for a few more moments, Basil wriggling in her arms to try to find a comfortable position. Then, with one final sigh, she slipped off into the night.


	4. Chapter 3: Into the Unknown

Susan quickly came to grips with just how poorly she'd thought this plan through.

Though Route 29 was perfectly passable during the day, at night it became much more difficult to traverse-not because the terrain was any different, but more so thanks to the lack of visibility. Worse, many of the Pokémon around this part of the region were nocturnal, meaning that the night was now alive with the disquieting sounds of Rattata and other various species of prey chittering about, scavenging for the night's sustenance. The noises may not have been portents of danger, but they certainly weren't winning any awards for being reassuring. It all made for a nightmarish void into which she now plunged, a far cry from the bright, inviting place it had seemed just yesterday.

Up above, the full moon cast an eerie white glow over the route-all the better, Susan realized, considering she'd just noticed she'd failed to bring a flashlight of any kind. The light on her phone would have to do for now; she could buy a light later if she really needed to. For the time being, though, she was left with little alternative beyond stumbling half-blind through the darkness.

Susan had let Basil walk on the ground alongside her so she could have her hands free if necessary. This proved to be a mistake, as the still half-drowsy Chikorita was even less stable on its feet than she was. Every so often, he'd simply begin to doze off where he was standing, and it would take a quick hiss or a sharp jostle to wake him up again. Susan was beginning to wish she'd taken Ampere instead, although she somehow doubted the Dedenne would have had any more interest in taking part in her little escapade.

A stiff gust of wind breezed through the area, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Susan began to question her own motives as she shifted the weight of her bag on her shoulder. The voice from her dream still echoed in her mind, even now.

 _Seek that which must be found. You have not been forgotten._

It made no sense on its own, but the thought was somehow calming. That voice, so powerful, yet so gentle at the same time...it had been unlike anything she'd ever heard. It almost reminded her of how Mom would speak on occasion, like when she'd come home from school with a bad grade, or like that time a couple of years ago when she'd accidentally broken the front window with Basil's Poke Ball. Stern, maybe, but reassuring at the same time. The voice she'd heard that night, and that was still echoing inside her now, made her feel warm inside in a way she couldn't quite explain.

And then the two shadowy figures...she didn't know why she'd jumped to "parents" immediately, but who else could fit the description? _You have not been forgotten_ … Maybe they were looking for her, somewhere out there. They wanted to see the girl they'd been forced to give up, even if she couldn't remember them. She was bound to run into them sooner or later if she started looking herself, right?

 _That's how it's supposed to work,_ she told herself. _When people are destined to meet, then they'll meet. If they aren't, they won't. And this dream has to be proof that it's destined to happen._

Susan hugged herself to brace against another cool gust. The grass underneath her rustled softly with each cautious step. Off to one side, the trees swayed in the wind, mesmerizing in their rhythm. Susan did her best not to be hypnotized by their sultry movements as she continued to mull things over.

Ever since waking up from that dream last night, she'd felt strange-strange in a nice way, like standing next to a crashing waterfall on a crisp autumn morning, but still strange. Something within her felt like it had been... _changed_ , in some way. But what that something was, she couldn't say. Dreams weren't supposed to make a mess of their hosts' heads. They were just supposed to reflect what was already there, right?

But then what made this one so different?

Susan's train of thought ground to a halt. What was different about this dream? It was just a series of images kicked up by her subconscious, but she knew-felt, even-that she'd been altered somehow as a result of it, even though that shouldn't have been possible. So how could this be?

 _I don't know,_ she finally realized.

It was on the tip of her tongue, but Susan couldn't quite come up with the answer. There was something to this, but whatever it was, it was beyond her. All she knew was that suddenly, from nowhere, there was something unfamiliar within her that was now steering the way-almost as if the dream had put something inside her that wasn't there before. Or, perhaps, taken away something that didn't belong. It was hard to tell which.

Before Susan could continue, her thoughts were interrupted. Something in the darkness had snagged her right foot.

Panicking, she yanked her foot forward, trying to free herself from her unseen assailant, but to no avail. Fear set in. She tried to start running, but the moment she lifted her free leg, she felt her balance vanish, and she tumbled face-first to the dirt.

Susan rolled onto her back, ready to aim a desperate kick at whatever had grabbed her-but there was nothing there.

Confused, Susan sat up. Only then did she notice the problem: her shoelace had gotten caught on a stray root, untying her sneaker and snagging her shoe.

Susan hurriedly freed her shoelace and re-tied her laces, quietly grateful that nobody was around to see the furious shade of red she'd just turned. With her shoe fixed, she got up, dusted herself off, and returned to her travel. In short order, she'd caught up to Basil, who had plodded along as though nothing was amiss.

As she tried to distract herself from her nerves, Susan's thoughts turned to a more mundane topic: she still wasn't sure how she'd managed to slip away undetected. Surely her parents had heard her, and were already on their way after her. Even now, after all she'd done, part of her was still considering calling it all off. Maybe there was still time-she could still turn back, she could claim that it had all been a mistake, she could-

The wild thoughts stirred about in her head, yet nothing stuck. She knew she'd already made her decision. It was a poorly thought out decision that would surely be extremely dangerous, but the decision still stood, no matter what her subconscious wanted.

Maybe this was all a colossal mistake. But in the end, it was her mistake to make. And somehow, despite the rational part of her mind screaming out at her all the ways this would go poorly, she knew she'd be okay.

An ear-splitting squeal came from somewhere beyond the stand of trees behind her, instantly undoing her newfound resolve.

Her hands were shaking too much, or she'd have pulled out her phone and tried to shine her makeshift flashlight into the trees to figure out the source of the outburst. Instead, she simply tried to push the noise out of her mind. As she often did when she was nervous, she began to hum softly as she crept forward, keeping her voice down so as to avoid attracting the attention of the wildlife.

She didn't really have a tune in mind, at first, instead simply reproducing fragments of tunes off the top of her head. As she did so, however, she felt herself begin to slowly latch on to a melody that sounded particularly nice. It took a few measures before she recognized the song-it was something Mom would sing to herself every now and again when she got stressed, or when she was busy. Susan had never learned the lyrics, but it was probably some old Kalosian folk song-the melody had an elegant, almost baroque feel, and it had always sounded grand and sweeping despite being quite simple.

Regardless of its origin, Susan was grateful for its existence. She felt her hands steadying a little, and the knot that seemed to have spontaneously formed in her gut had begun to untwist a bit. Even Basil seemed to have picked up on the melody, as he was now walking with a noticeable bounce in his step, any fatigue seemingly long forgotten. Susan kept humming, louder now, as if to conjure the melody into reality like a security blanket around them both. With the help of the beloved tune, Susan and Basil were able to continue pressing onward as the moon continued to shine down on them from above.

After what felt like ages, they had nearly reached the end of the route. Susan's heart swelled. She'd almost done it. Just a little farther-

A noise cut through the night, causing an abrupt end to Susan's song.

"Did you hear that?" Susan whispered to Basil as she glanced around, looking for where the rustle of leaves had come from. She held her breath, waiting for the sound to come again. When it did, she turned back to the trees behind her. One of the lower boughs of the tree nearest her was shaking, the lone movement against a still backdrop of dimly lit green and brown.

Susan inched toward the tree. Her fear, as if having sensed that her humming had stopped, was beginning to creep in again as she crept forward. Basil stayed close to her feet, letting out an inquisitive whimper. The branch continued to shake in the same way it had been, with seemingly no change in pattern.

A somewhat reckless idea struck Susan. She pulled out her phone and enabled the camera light, causing a tiny beacon to pop into existence before her. She pointed the light at the branch. As if on cue, the branch began to shake with more vigor. Susan kept the light pointed at the branch and continued to edge toward it, trying to flush out whatever was making the motion.

Just as Susan had come within a yard or so of the tree, the branch abruptly stopped moving as a spherical object dropped to the ground with a _thud_.

Susan recoiled with a cry, sending the beam of light skyward as she drew back from the sudden movement. Basil ducked for cover behind her ankles. On instinct, she pointed the light squarely at the fallen object, which for the moment wasn't moving.

Her heart thumped as though trying to break free from her chest entirely. She started to take deep breaths to even out her nerves as best she could, eyes fixated on the small, inert brown ball that had just landed before her. Staring at it led her to the conclusion that this was no mere object-she'd just accidentally knocked a Pokémon out of its nest.

 _Oh no._ Susan started to dart forward toward the fallen animal. She knew she'd never forgive herself if she'd caused permanent harm. But the moment she'd launched herself, the ball of what looked like feathers began to stir. She slid to a halt just a foot or so away as the small bird righted itself and turned around.

Susan recognized the Hoothoot the moment she saw its huge red eyes. The tiny owl blinked once, twice, clearly in a bit of a daze from the fall, but otherwise seemingly unharmed. She bent down closer to the bird as it pivoted around, standing on one foot. When it spotted her, the Hoothoot let out an inquisitive hoot as it hopped closer.

Susan fought her urge to draw back. Instead, trying not to make any sudden movements, she reached back into the pocket of berries and dug around for something to offer the little owl.

"Here you go," she said to the Hoothoot, pulling out a reddish berry covered in bumps. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?" She held the berry out to the Pokémon.

The small owl hopped up to her hand, sniffing at the air. Susan held her breath as the bird stared at the berry, scrutinizing the treat from every possible angle. At last, it gently took the food with its beak and gulped it down.

Susan drew her hand back and breathed a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't hostile. She was just about to stand up and be on her way, when a chirping sound caught her attention.

As she looked down, she noticed Basil coming forward to get a closer look at the small owl. And judging by the tone of the chirp, he didn't seem to be too keen on the wild Pokémon's presence.

"What is it, boy?" Susan watched Basil closely as he came eye-to-eye with the Hoothoot. The Chikorita was right up in its face, giving it an inquisitive sniff. After a moment, Basil emitted a quick series of chirps, to which the Hoothoot replied with a tweet and a hoot. Basil responded again, and what seemed to be a conversation of sorts ensued. It made for a rather odd picture, and Susan couldn't help but wonder what sort of message was being conveyed. It seemed quite fascinating, whatever it was.

Unfortunately, Basil now seemed to have "said" something that had had struck a nerve with the Hoothoot, who glared at the Chikorita for a moment. Then, without warning, it lunged forward, tackling the Chikorita at full force.

" _Basil!"_ Susan's stunned shriek split the night as Basil reeled backward. She rifled through her bag, looking for something she could use. Wallet, pens, notebook, berries...why hadn't she grabbed any potions? Surely she'd at least thought to scoop up some Oran Berries in the midst of her hasty preparations…

As she scrambled to find something to heal her Chikorita with, Basil had come to his senses. He growled at the Hoothoot, flicking his leaf around to slap the bird across the face, but missing wildly. Still, the bird took this as an even more egregious insult, and charged forward again, just barely missing as Basil jumped out of the way.

Susan continued to rifle through her bag. Surely there was _something_ in here she could use to end this fight. At last, she felt her hand close around a cold, spherical object of some sort. Pulling her hand out of her bag revealed the item to be a Poké Ball. This hadn't exactly been what she'd had in mind, but…

Meanwhile, Basil had reared back and plowed into the wild Hoothoot, using his body as a battering ram to send the owl rolling away across the dirt. It struggled for a moment as it tried and failed to right itself.

Now was her chance. Susan stood up and faced the fallen owl. She took a deep breath and tried to recall the motion she'd seen many times on TV-how easy other trainers had made it look. It couldn't be that hard, surely.

Susan pulled the Poké Ball level with her face and planted with her feet. Her knuckles began to ache from the death grip she had on the ball. With a deep breath, she brought her arm back, ball tucked securely between her fingers like a baseball, and hurled it at the Hoothoot with all the force she could muster.

Too much force, perhaps-the ball had barely left her hands when it careened downward into the ground. It bounced with a loud _ping_ as it shot well wide of the mark and rolled off into the night, never to be seen again.

 _Crap._ She'd released it too late. She dug into the bag again as the epic struggle between Basil and the bird continued. After some time, she found another ball. Once again, she straightened her posture, then flung the capsule, mentally forcing herself to let go a little earlier this time.

Her second attempt fared little better than her first; this ball flew upward into the air and landed far behind the Hoothoot (which, as it happened, was as yet unaware of her attempts to capture it). Susan barely managed to avoid swearing under her breath as she watched the ball fly off into the void as well. She couldn't afford to keep doing this. Out came the bag once more.

 _One more try,_ she thought to herself as she pulled out a third ball. She felt the cold metal of the device sticking slightly to her fingers as she swung her arm forward a couple of times for practice. It soon became clear that this movement wasn't working. It felt...unnatural, stilted. She didn't have the arm for it, perhaps.

Susan dropped her arm to her side, letting gravity take its course. No point showing off now-especially since nobody was around to notice anyway. She swung her arm upward once, twice, three times, refining her aim with each test swing. When she was at last satisfied, she drew her arm back, then swung it up and back around in a windmill motion, releasing the ball on the downswing.

This time, the ball shot out right at the Hoothoot and landed squarely on its forehead. Before the bird could react, the ball emitted a flash of red light and a hissing sound as it drew the owl inside it, before bouncing a few times on the ground.

Susan held her breath again as the ball came to rest, waiting for something to happen-anything, really. She'd never really figured out what was supposed to happen next-the TV shows usually cut this part out.

She stood there staring at the Poké Ball-or at least where the ball had made contact, before falling into the tall grass. Her hands were shaking again. Had she done something wrong? She didn't have a license, she wasn't supposed to catch Pokémon...why had it even occurred to her to throw the balls in the first place? She knew it wasn't allowed. And still…

Her hands were shaking again. She walked over to where the ball had landed, still somewhat in disbelief. The capsule had nestled itself within the grass, surface glimmering with a light coating of dew. As she stared down at the sphere that now contained the Hoothoot- _her_ Hoothoot, she dared think to herself-it began to sink in just what she'd signed herself up for.

Something nuzzled at her ankles again. Susan didn't bother looking down at Basil; her eyes were still fixed on the ball lying before her. She reached down to pick the ball up, squeezing it with her hand as if to ensure this was really happening.

Susan gripped the ball in her hand and looked back up at the road. They were practically on the outskirts of Cherrygrove; could she risk a visit to the Pokémon Center? At this time of night, the nurse would ask questions. And questions would lead to demands to see ID. No, she couldn't afford it. She had to keep going.

Susan tucked the Poké Ball into her bag, resolving to mark it later. Her eyes fixed themselves on the sleeping town silhouetted before her.

 _No turning back,_ she affirmed to herself.

She began humming to herself again as she walked on, her Chikorita trotting close behind her. It was better than silence, at least.


	5. Chapter 4: The Mean Streets

In the early morning light, the rugged path leading up Route 30 seemed far more intimidating than it ever had. Susan had only ever been down this road a handful of times, always in the company of her mother and Ampere. Never on her own, and certainly not at this hour. But then, it wasn't as though she wasn't already used to firsts in the relatively short time since she'd gone walkabout.

As it now stood, she was only a few hours' hike away from Violet City. That thought alone reignited Susan's already shot nerves. Violet was the farthest she'd ever been from home; even with both her parents, it had been a little too much for her the last time they were there. So many buildings, so many people…

 _Enough of that,_ she told herself, stepping onto the route at last. _Antoine isn't that far. You have to keep moving._

She still wasn't sure what kept her moving forward-this wasn't logical, or even sane-but something weighed within her whenever she got the idea to turn back. Whatever she thought about it, she could feel deep down that this was the path she was meant to take, as crazy or irresponsible as it seemed.

Still, Susan had so far been completely been a stranger to an existential quandary of this magnitude, so her main objective thus far had been to successfully distract herself from her newfound self-awareness. Instead of focusing on that, she began to occupy herself with her new ally.

"You know," Susan murmured, staring down at the newly occupied Poké Ball in her hand, "I never did decide on a name for you, did I?" She closed her eyes, trying to think. "What would be a good name for a Hoothoot, anyway?" She mused for a moment on the possibilities. When nothing came to mind, her eyes opened and she glanced downward at her Chikorita. "Any ideas, Basil?"

His only reply was a disgruntled chirp.

"Wait, why am I asking you? You can't talk."

Another, more offended cry.

"Oh, you know I didn't mean it that way." Susan reached into her pocket and dug out a berry. She bent down to give it to Basil, who devoured the morsel with vigor. She sighed. "Sometimes I wish you could speak. I bet you'd have a lot to say."

Basil was too busy munching on the berry to reply this time. Susan straightened, dusting off her jeans as she tucked the ball away again.

"Oh, well. I'll think of something later." She took a deep breath. "Better keep moving."

The first rays of sunlight had begun to eke their way through the boughs of the trees. Despite this, the limited illumination only served to create an even more eerie atmosphere than the pitch blackness had before. Susan tried to keep her mind focused on the path as she pressed on, a task not made any easier by the thick grass that coated the route. To make matters more complex, Basil soon decided to become quite vocally tired of walking, meaning she now had to carry him on her shoulder for the time being. More than once, she felt her feet snag on interwoven clumps of the foliage, nearly sending her and Basil falling to the ground. Still, with great care, she managed to catch herself each time and keep moving. After a considerable amount of walking, they found themselves at the mouth of a small cave.

Susan stood well away from the opening and peered inside. She vaguely remembered seeing this cave before on one of her family's trips into the city, but they'd never come close enough to look inside-certainly not this close. Curiosity overcame her as she inched closer to the cave, pulling out her phone to light the way. She heard a murmur in her right ear as she reached the entrance.

"It's okay," she tried to reassure her Chikorita. "We're just going a little bit of the way in. Not too far."

Basil's protest fell on deaf ears. Susan took one uneasy step into the cave, phone brandished shakily as the cool air of the cave began to surround her. Trying to suppress a shiver, Susan swept the light around, trying to determine whether there was any life within it whatsoever.

Her light caught an odd rock formation off in the distance. Susan stared at it from afar as she walked, trying to wrap her head around it. The way the stone tapered off into a fine stream before widening again at the ground made it look like a misshapen hourglass. The wonders of nature never ceased to amaze Susan; even something as simple as rock formations could be so-

Susan was too lost in thought to realize when her foot caught on a rock on the ground. She barely had time to catch herself before she landed on the ground face-first.

With a grunt, Susan labored to push herself back up. The side of her face felt numb from where she'd fallen on it. She reached up to rub her cheek in an attempt to massage feeling back into it as she stood.

"You okay, Basil?" she asked, trying to find her Chikorita. There was a momentary silence, then a muffled grumble. Susan tiptoed forward toward the direction of the noise, and tried again. "Basil? Can you hear me, buddy?"

Another grumble, louder this time. Susan looked down to see a wriggling, greenish figure at her feet. Relieved, she knelt and prodded at Basil. The Chikorita hopped back to his feet and shook himself, trying to get back to his senses. Having done so, he shot a glare up at his trainer.

"Okay, fine. You were right." Susan offered her arm, allowing Basil to scurry up to his perch once more. She stood up and began moving toward the exit, stepping gingerly over the stone that hat tripped her. "This was a bad idea. Let's get out of here before one of us gets-"

Susan fell silent as a low rumble echoed through the cavern. She looked left, right, and every direction in between for a sign of the source of the noise. It took her several moments before she realized that the rock she'd stumbled on had begun to move of its own accord. It seemed to begin floating in midair as a pair of bright white eyes appeared on its front. Its limb-like protrusions on either side balled into what might as well have been fists as the rock deepened its growl.

Susan's wasted no time backpedaling away from the Geodude. Pinning Basil to her shoulder for security, she turned and started sprinting for the door.

The growl tapered off for a moment, then raised in pitch and intensity to more resemble a roar-a roar that was now quickly increasing in volume as well. Susan barely managed to register the change in time to duck out of the way as the Geodude came hurtling over her shoulder. It spun to face Susan, fury shimmering in its eyes as it moved to block the exit.

Susan came to a halt. As the rock floated in place, apparently aware of the stalemate it had just created, she weighed her options. She didn't know if Basil would be able to handle a creature like this by himself, and she certainly didn't want to risk further harm to her newly captured Hoothoot. She could make a run for it, but there was the risk of further provoking the Geodude, which wouldn't be good either.

She pulled on the strap of her bag, trying to brainstorm. That's when the idea struck her.

Without making any sudden movements, Susan gently slipped her bag off of her back. Gripping it by one strap, she took a deep breath. Then, summoning all her might, she swung the bag at the Geodude.

The bag connected with a loud _thwap_ , knocking the Geodude aside as expected. Before she could ready for its inevitable reaction, though, a ball of light sprung into being at the point of impact.

Susan dropped her bag and shielded her eyes from the sudden brilliance. Above her, the roof of the cavern began to echo again with the squeals of the light-sensitive Zubat that inhabited it.

The light began to dim at last, and Susan chanced a peek at where the Geodude had been. To her surprise and confusion, she discovered a lone Poké Ball.

She picked the ball up and turned it over in her hands, asking herself what had happened. Her question was quickly answered when she noticed her bag; the top compartment was still hanging open, and evidently had allowed one of her spare Poké Balls to fly out and claim the Geodude somehow.

Basil let out what had to have been an annoyed sigh, and Susan couldn't help but agree somewhat. This was all very convenient and circumstantial. Here she was, a girl with no prior experience in Pokémon training, yet not even a day had passed and she'd somehow bumbled her way into catching two wild Pokémon. If she hadn't already broken some sort of law, she surely had now.

With a sigh of her own, Susan put the ball back in her bag alongside the Hoothoot. Another nickname she'd have to think of at some point. As she made her way back out of the cave, she noticed the world around her brightening. A quick glance skyward told her the reason: the sun had finally made a full appearance, and morning was officially here.

She was almost there.

* * *

It wasn't long before Susan, Basil and their two new compatriots reached their destination: a modest, rustic burg nestled away in the forest.

Before her now lay Violet City, the gateway to western Johto. Though not the largest metropolis in the region, it was certainly the largest she'd ever seen in person. The city's gothic, bleakly shaded buildings stood in stark contrast to the brilliant morning sun, and the streets were already swarming with people even at this early hour. The subdued, antique storefronts stood out among the crowd, in their attempts to catch the eye of curious passersby. Just off the sidewalk, vendors lined the cobblestone streets peddling their wares. Off to one side stood the famous shrine known informally as the "Bellsprout Tower," looming large over the pond that surrounded it; here, a handful of monks tended its gardens in quiet contemplation of some spiritual mystery. Susan noticed one of them look up from his work to catch her eye as she passed. He gave her a warm smile and a friendly wave, which she returned. Then he bowed his head and returned to his task.

Susan tried to make a mental map of her surroundings. Here was the Pokémon Center, and the Poké Mart was over this way...But where would Antoine be? Maybe he'd already gone looking for the Gym. But where was that? Susan followed the flow of people along the sidewalk, leaning out every now and again to see if he was near. She thought about calling out to him, but decided against it. Even if he was nearby, he'd never be able to hear her over all this noise-and all these people. And now that she looked at it, the buildings seemed to stretch on forever. Could she even catch up to him before he left? Why had she thought this would work?

Susan found a bench near a streetlight and took a seat. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts. She felt her phone buzz in her backpack. Mom and Dad. She wanted so badly to answer, to tell them she was all right. But then they'd ask questions; and once they found out where she was, then that would just make everything even worse. She'd already ruined her own life, and now she was ruining her parents'! Everything was telling her to pick up the phone and accept what was coming-but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

The phone stopped buzzing. Then, a few moments later, it started again. They wouldn't give up until they knew where their daughter was. She could already picture Mom losing her mind; Dad would be on the phone to the police any minute, especially if she didn't answer this time-and who _knew_ what Ampere would be thinking? She choked back a sob as she thought of them. Not even gone a full day and she was already homesick.

She didn't know what to do. She'd never known what to do, least of all now, and it was all the fault of that stupid dream, the dream that had planted all this in her head, that had caused her to-

A small, unfamiliar squeak behind her caught her attention.

Susan jumped to her feet and whirled around to find the source of the noise, but saw nothing at first. Curiosity led her to look down, where she found her answer. A small, olive-green reptile was staring up at her from near the ground, seemingly close to tears.

"What is it, little guy?" Susan knelt beside the forlorn little Pokémon, setting her backpack aside as Basil hopped to the ground beside them. Her unease took a back seat for a moment as she tried to reassure the creature. "Are you missing your trainer?"

The Larvitar sniffed, its eyes welling with tears. It jabbed one of its stubby arms at the sign hanging around its neck, which Susan had only just noticed. She read the sign aloud:

"Please Help-No Money-Need Food." Susan felt her heart twinge as she noticed the empty bin next to the Larvitar, who nodded in its direction and let out another whimper.

"Oh, you poor thing." Susan reached over for her backpack, still captivated by the little creature's tears. "Let me see what I can find." She knew she had to have grabbed some spare change. It was probably in-

Her hand snatched at thin air where her bag had been just moments ago.

Susan snapped her head over to her right, where she'd laid the bag. Rather than on the ground where it was supposed to be, though, it was currently in the arms of a rather dirty, ragged-looking teenage girl.

"Uh…" The girl's eyes grew wide as she realized she'd been caught. "Goji! Quick!"

On reflex more than anything, Susan snapped back to the Larvitar. As she did so, however, she was met with a face full of mud. She fell backward into the middle of the street, leaving Basil to chirp at the thieves in fury as they made their escape.

"Wait!" Susan wiped the mud off her face as best she could in her hurry. In one swift motion, the clambered to her feet and scooped up her Chikorita, before chasing after the girl at full sprint. Susan ducked in and out of the flow of foot traffic, offering a harried "sorry" or "excuse me" every so often as she gave pursuit.

Up ahead, the girl weaved into the alleyways of the city. Against her better judgment, Susan plunged headlong into the maze of buildings, desperate to keep on her tail. The chase twisted left, right, right again, left again-more directions than Susan could keep track of. Every time she rounded one corner, a flash of black hair would mark the next turn for only an instant before vanishing into the grey.

Panic began to set in as Susan tried desperately to remember which way she'd gone this time-left? No, right, surely. But supposing she was wrong? She went left anyway, and there she was-disappearing down the right-hand corridor. Susan bounded blindly through the alleys, desperate not to succumb to the growing pressure of the monoliths all around her.

At last, the chase weaved back into the open street. Susan watched as the girl barreled into the crowd, slipping into the endless sea of faces. There wasn't even time to second-guess herself; Susan charged in as well. She felt herself being jostled by the crowd, as gasps and angry exclamations bombarded her with every step. Just as she was nearly through, she felt a stiff shove to the small of her back, sending her sprawling to the pavement just clear of the crowd.

Susan dusted herself off for the second time that morning as she climbed back to her feet, the girl seemingly long gone. She cradled Basil a little tighter as she scanned the horizon for any sign of the thief. So many people in such a small space, surely it would take forever to-

Her thought was immediately put to rest by a stream of jet black hair gliding over the nearby bridge. Susan wasted no time in resuming the chase-she darted over to the bridge and began to make haste.

"Hey! Get back here!" Susan shouted with what little energy she had left. She saw the girl glance back at her, eyes wide in disbelief-she must have thought she was in the clear. The thief seemed to clutch the bag tighter as she picked up the pace, widening the gap as the chase intensified.

Susan's determination gave way ever so slightly as she looked up at the building that towered above them-they were headed straight into the sacred tower. But the girl didn't seem fazed in the slightest. Just inside the door, Susan saw her sling the bag over her shoulder and tuck her Larvitar into one of the outer pockets, before grabbing hold of a vertical beam and starting to climb upward.

Susan reached the beam just as the thief had gotten out of reach. Setting Basil on the ground beneath her, she wrapped herself around the pole and tried to heave herself upward. It didn't work; her grip wasn't strong enough, and she was too tired from the chase. Stepping back from the beam, she spotted a ladder leading upward. She told Basil to stay, then dashed over to the ladder and began climbing.

Every muscle in her body screamed at her as she climbed the ladder upward. She felt her heart beating against the front of her chest with every rung, and each step made her feel as though her legs would give out at any second. The second story passed her by; she chanced a glance over to see her rival matching her pace-sufficient motivation for her to press onward.

By the time she reached the third story, all her energy was gone. She flopped onto the floor face-first, panting to catch her breath. There was nothing she wanted more than to just take a nice, long nap.

She managed to turn her head just in time to see the girl also reaching the top floor. Judging by her slow, labored movements, she had to be out of energy too. Susan forced herself onto her feet, catching herself as she nearly lost her balance.

The thief, having similarly landed on the top floor, took no respite; instead, she immediately made for one of the exposed rafter beams along the side of the floor. Just as Susan made to go after her, however, a loud _CRACK_ split the air. Before her eyes, the girl began to lose her balance. As she flailed her arms to try to regain control, the bag slipped off her shoulder and landed on the solid floor, sending her Larvitar flying out and landing nearby with a _thud._

Susan raced over to reclaim her bag. A quick rummage through it revealed that nothing had been lost, save for a couple of berries that the Larvitar had evidently snacked on during the chase. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her phone and money were still where she'd left them.

"W-Wait! Help!"

Susan glanced back up to where the girl had nearly fallen through. She was still hanging on to the beams, but was visibly shaking. It seemed as though her upper body strength was the only thing keeping her from slipping through as she kept herself propped up.

"Look, y-you can keep the bag, okay?" She sounded desperate; her arms began to visibly shake under the exertion of keeping herself up. "Just please, get me up from here!"

Susan wasn't sure why, but as she looked at the girl, any anger she had had drained away. Against her better judgment, she dropped the bag and scrambled over to the edge of the floor. She reached out her hand, which the girl took with no hesitation. Susan braced herself against the added weight, nearly skidding off the floor herself. She didn't have the energy to pull her up.

All at once, she felt something in her open-a pool of hidden strength, almost. Whatever it was, she felt herself awash in a sudden burst of vim. With no time to waste, she gave it one last pull-a pull which was sufficient to hoist the girl up from the hole. Susan collapsed onto the floor as the girl caught onto the floor with her free hand and pulled herself the rest of the way to safety.

The two lay there for quite some time, trying to catch their breath. Susan propped herself up and stared over at her bag. Everything seemed intact from this angle, though she couldn't know for sure. But she was too tired to go through a proper inventory; between the journey from home and now this latest exertion, all she wanted was to get some sleep.

 _Well,_ she thought to herself in between gasps of air, _at least Antoine wasn't here to see any of this._

 _"_ _Susan?!"_

Susan struggled to turn her head in the direction of the voice. When she did, she was greeted with the sight of her brother standing at the top of the ladder she'd just climbed, along with a very confused-looking monk.

Susan waved weakly at Antoine. "Hey, bro," she wheezed. Then her arms gave out and she fell back onto the floor, completely drained.


	6. Chapter 5: Taking Wing

"It's okay, Mother, she's here with me. She's fine."

Susan wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. She'd curled her legs as close to her as she could as she sat there, desperately avoiding Antoine's occasional glances at her as he continued talking on his phone.

"I don't know. I was meeting with one of the caretakers of Sprout Tower, and there she was." He paused. "No, she's not hurt. I don't think, anyway."

Susan shook her head, still not ready to meet eyes with him. He must have gotten the message, because he soon resumed.

"I can't. I have a Gym battle booked in two hours. I can't take her back there now. Why can't you-"

Antoine stopped short, his eyes widening as their mother spoke. "But-" he started, but was presumably cut off. He looked back at Susan, then off into the distance. "Well, yes, I'm headed that way eventually, but that could be ages from-"

Susan glanced over at the girl who just moments ago had been fleeing from her. The girl was sitting cross-legged, stroking her Larvitar. Susan wasn't really sure why she'd stuck around-she probably could have fled by now and been well clear. Maybe there was some other reason, then. Or perhaps it had been the influence of the monk who was standing behind her, cheerfully paying her no mind as he watered a nearby pot of soil.

"But Mom, I-" Antoine was clearly getting annoyed. "Look, Mom, this is a terrible idea-"

Next to Susan, Basil had nestled into her side and was now snoozing away, having finally gotten a chance to sleep. The warm, relaxed rise and fall of his chest was the only comforting feeling Susan had right now.

At last, Antoine shook his head and sighed. "Okay, okay. Fine. We'll...we'll do that then." He looked down at Susan. "But I still think it's too dangerous." Another pause. "Okay. Love you too." He hung up and immediately massaged his temple. Whatever the conversation had been about, he was clearly not having a great morning.

Eventually, he drew his hand away from his head and sat on the floor facing Susan and the other girl. "All right," he said, trying his best to be calm, "what happened?"

Without hesitation, Susan told him everything-the dream, her decision to run away, the Pokémon, all of it. As she spoke, she dared to gaze upward at her brother, and was relieved to see an expression of understanding-or at least, well-masked annoyance. By the time she'd gotten to the end of the story-detailing her arrival in Violet and the chase-she felt far more relaxed than she had before. She felt herself uncurling slightly as she finally finished her story:

"...so I pulled her up, somehow, and that's when you found us," she concluded. "I know it was a bad idea to run away, but I just...I just felt like I _had_ to, you know?"

"No, I don't know," her brother replied. "And 'bad idea' is putting it mildly." He looked over at the other girl, and his features noticeably stiffened. "And you," Ant continued, "first of all, who are you, and second of all, what the he-" He stopped short, shot a quick apologetic look to the friar, then tried again: "What were you thinking trying to rob someone like that?"

"Hmm?" The girl looked up from her Larvitar. "Oh, you're talking to me now. Sorry." She grinned. "Name's Penny St-uh...well, just Penny. And this here is Goji." She pointed down at her Larvitar, who was currently glaring up at his trainer, as if demanding the headpats continue. "As for your other question, well...it's sort of what I do. Not like I have a choice."

Antoine raised an eyebrow. "Everyone's got a choice."

Penny gave a dismissive chuckle in reply. "You keep thinking that, kid."

"Don't call me that. You look like you're practically the same age as me."

"Whatever." She turned to Susan. "Anyway, I never got a chance to say thanks for helping me back there. I'd probably have been fine, but…" She looked down at Goji and resumed petting. "Doesn't hurt to have a helping hand now and again."

Antoine sighed and shook his head as he stood up. "Well, I'm still calling the police. There's no excuse for vagrancy. And _you_ " (he looked at Susan suddenly, causing her to tense up again) "are incredibly lucky. You realize you're not even supposed to be here, right?"

"Well, yes, but…I just felt like if I came here and found you, maybe that would help me figure out what to do next." It was a weak premise, but it was all she had. "I don't know, okay? I didn't know what to do…"

Antoine said nothing as he studied her for a moment. Then he turned away. "Well…" he started, then trailed off. He turned back as if to say something, then thought better of it. At last, he took a deep breath.

"Look," he said finally, "here's the situation. Normally I'd just bring you back home to Mom and Dad, and they'd deal with you." He shook his head. "But Mom's meeting with the Professor this morning to fly out to Viridian for a conference, and she's taking Ampere with her. And we both know Dad has massive back problems. Plus, the professor already scheduled my first Gym battle for me in advance, so I can't exactly drop everything to take you back anyway." He looked away. "So they told me to take you to stay with Aunt Carol. Then, once Mom gets back, she'll head out there and bring you back home."

"Aunt...Carol?" Susan repeated. "You mean out in Olivine?"

"Right. Which means the only option is for you to come with me." Susan could hear the disappointment in his voice. "It's not safe to send you anywhere by yourself, Pokémon or no Pokémon. And I'm definitely not leaving you here."

"Wait, did you say Olivine?" Penny spoke up. Susan turned to see the girl's eyes lit up. "I know that place like the back of my hand. I can get you there in no time."

"Really?" Up went Ant's eyebrow again. "But if you know Olivine so well, how come you're here?"

Penny visibly flinched, but tried to play it off. "It's...it's kind of a long story. Just trust me on this."

"And why would I trust someone who just tried to steal my sister's belongings?"

"Because why the hell would I-" Penny was cut off by the sound of a throat clearing. The three of them turned to see the monk glowering at her, shaking his head in disapproval. "Sorry, Padre," she said sheepishly before trying again. "Because why the _heck_ would I double-cross someone who just saved my life?"

Antoine glared at Penny for a moment, then sighed again. "Fine," he said. "You win. But the moment something goes wrong, we're leaving you behind. Clear?"

"You can certainly try." Penny grinned. "So I take it this means you're not going to call the cops, then?"

"Whatever." Ant looked back at Susan. "Look at me, Su." Susan looked back up at her brother, whose face had softened again. He offered her a hand, which she accepted, and he pulled her to her feet, sending Basil falling on his side in her absence.

"I can't say what you did was smart, because it certainly wasn't." His voice began to waver. "But I'm glad you understand that. And more importantly, I'm glad you're safe." He pulled her into a hug, and for the first time since she'd left home, Susan felt herself truly relax. "We're going to figure this out. I promise."

Susan returned the hug. She couldn't think of anything to say. She didn't need to.

* * *

Nestled in the heart of the city, the Violet City Pokémon Gym was the highlight of many trainers' journeys. For some, it marked the first step on their road to greatness; for others, it was the final stop on their travels. Accordingly, when Antoine and Susan entered the Gym (Penny had left shortly beforehand, saying something about the Gym being "too visible," but had promised to meet up with them afterward), the lobby was populated by novices and apparent veterans alike. As Antoine checked in at the front desk, Susan found a seat over in the corner of the antechamber, where a window seemed to peer into the adjoining room. Next to the window was a large set of double doors, beyond which Susan could just barely make out the sounds of what had to have been a fierce fight.

She was soon joined by Antoine, who let out a heavy sigh as he took a seat next to her.

"Well, at least we got here early," he said. "Not like it mattered. There's six people ahead of me, so we're going to be here a while."

"At least we're not late," Susan offered, hugging Basil close to her chest to keep him from running off.

Antoine gave no reply. Instead, he took a deep breath.

After a few minutes of silence, the double doors opened. An attendant peeked out into the lobby, holding a clipboard in her hand. She studied the clipboard for a second before calling out:

"Grant? James Grant?"

A rather nervous-looking boy a few seats down leapt to his feet, clutching a blue-and-red Poke Ball in his hand. Behind him, an older-looking girl also stood, giving him a reassuring pat on his shoulder. The two walked over to the attendant, who had the boy sign a piece of paper as they entered the room beyond the doors. The large doors shut behind them, and silence returned.

This continued for some time, with the attendant occasionally peeking in to call out a new name or converse with the receptionist. Even as the lobby's previous inhabitants proceeded through the doors one by one, a new challenger would enter occasionally, keeping the overall number of people more or less stable. Eventually, Antoine was next in line.

Once the last trainer before her brother-a gangly man in a suit with a full beard-had entered the arena, Susan set Basil on the ground and decided to walk up to the window to see if she could watch the battle. Since the wall below it was lined with chairs, she was forced to kneel on one of the empty seats to be able to watch. It was more than a little awkward, but she was eventually able to make herself somewhat comfortable.

The tall man was standing at the near end of the battlefield opposite a young blue-haired man. Susan guessed this was the "Falkner" person a few of the trainers in the lobby had mentioned. He seemed friendly enough; the two men seemed to be having a polite conversation at the moment, as some sort of ambient glow cast itself down on them.

Then, without warning, both trainers cast their Poke Balls into the center of the battle area. The dual flash of light faded to reveal each trainer's selected Pokémon. The tall man had opted for what seemed to be a large, round monster made chiefly of stone, which let out a ferocious roar that shook the double doors next to her. On the opposite side, Falkner had sent out a sleek, shimmering crane-like creature that seemed to be made entirely of steel. The light from above caught its silvery form just right, so as to give it an extra edge of intimidation.

The metallic bird was the first to act, spreading its crimson wings as it took to the air. In response, the rock beast reached out one of its hands and fired a volley of smaller rocks into the air. The bird weaved in and out of the attack with ease, nimbly weaving its way through the air as the large creature below it kept up its assault.

Seeming to sense its attack was failing to have an effect, the living boulder raised its hands, summoning a large stone much larger than it. With a motion of its arms, the beast hurled the massive stone toward the bird.

The silver crane, rather than ducking out of the way, let loose a high-pitched battle cry, then dove straight at the oncoming boulder, its metallic body shining even brighter in the light than before. With a mighty crashing sound, the stone shredded into tiny pieces as the bird plowed through it, reducing it to dust before the beast's eyes, before diving headfirst into the rock monster itself. The impact sent the monster reeling, knocking it off its feet and into the air, where it landed and bounced back a few yards. Soon, it came to rest, looking thoroughly spent.

The two Pokémon vanished in beams of light. The trainers shook hands as Falkner seemed to give the tall man some sort of advice, to which the challenger nodded, disheartened. Then, the man walked off toward the back of the room, and Falkner collected his Pokémon to hand it to an assistant.

"German? Antoine German?"

Susan heard a muffled groan behind her. She turned to see Antoine standing to his feet, not impressed. She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. He hated it when people mispronounced his name. She joined her brother just as he finished signing the paper (which she would later learn was an indemnity waiver), and the two stepped forward into the arena itself.

The first thing that struck Susan about the room was just how _big_ it seemed. From the outside, the Gym had appeared somewhat nondescript, almost hiding among the trees and other, taller buildings. From within, however, the building seemed positively massive. The arena was a wide open room, empty except for the battlefield and a small spectator area to the side. The sky-blue walls stretched all the way up-easily three or four stories, it seemed-to a glass windowed ceiling, through which the noonday sunlight poured down onto the floor below.

"Ah, you must be Antoine. Welcome."

Susan's attention was caught by the blue-haired young man, who was addressing her brother. "I've been told this is your first Gym battle," Falkner continued. "Is that correct?"

Antoine nodded. "Yes, sir."

The young man chuckled. "No need to be so formal around us Gym Leaders. We're here to help you get better, not to make you afraid of us." His attention turned to Susan. "Ah, and I assume you're here to spectate the battle?"

Susan nodded. "That's right. I'm his sister, Susan."

"Good to meet you, Susan. Now, I need you to step over there, if you would." He pointed over to one side of the arena. Susan followed his finger to see that he was pointing at the designated spectator area, a rather large distance from the field. "We usually have our spectators stay well away from the battlefield for safety reasons. Since it's your brother's first Gym battle, I don't think there'll be any real danger, but better safe than sorry, you know?"

"R-Right." Susan nodded at Falkner, then looked over at Antoine. "Good luck," she whispered, before scurrying over to the small outcropping of bleachers, Basil trotting behind her at a leisurely pace.

As she got to the stands, she happened to notice a thick wall of what looked like some kind of plastic glass surrounding the seats. _What kind of battle would make this necessary?_ She asked herself.

But there was no time for that now; the battle was about to begin.

Falkner said a few more words to Antoine which Susan couldn't quite make out, but which Antoine seemed to agree to. Then, the two trainers split up and retreated to their respective ends of the battlefield-Antoine to her left, Falkner to her right.

Susan felt her heart begin to beat faster. This was actually about to happen-a real Pokémon battle, right in front of her. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

As before, both trainers sent out their choice of Pokémon. Ant lobbed his Poke Ball into the air, and out came Kylian, who stretched his muscles and bared his teeth at the Gym Leader. Meanwhile, Falkner had sent out quite a different Pokémon than the one he had just used in the last battle; this time, he had released a rather tall, owl-like bird with brown wings and a pair of tan strands of feathers protruding from its brow. For some reason, looking at it made Susan suddenly remember the Hoothoot she'd caught last night.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her bag wiggling somewhat. It seemed the Hoothoot was reacting too.

Falkner was the first to make a move. He shouted a command to his Noctowl, who immediately took flight, much like his other Pokémon had. This time, however, the Noctowl closed its eyes, before emitting a wave of some sort of mental energy downward toward Kylian. On the ground, the Totodile was clearly being affected by the waves somehow, as it began to stagger back and forth. After a moment of sustained pressure from the mental attack, the Totodile seemed to slump over, barely keeping itself standing as it began to drowse.

Susan saw Antoine shout something at Kylian, but to no avail; the Totodile was fast asleep. Sensing its opening, the Noctowl took its chance. Streamlining its body, it dove headfirst out of the sky and pointed itself straight at Kylian.

Susan couldn't help herself. " _Watch out!"_

Her plea fell on deaf ears. The Noctowl rammed beak-first into Kylian's gut, sending him falling backward. The Totodile reeled from the impact for a moment, before shaking its head and standing up.

More confidently than before, Antoine issued another command, and this time, his Pokémon was more than capable. The Totodile charged up its energy, then shot a stream of water from its mouth straight at the Noctowl, who had just perched back on its side of the field. Completely caught off guard, the flummoxed owl staggered backward in the face of the jet of liquid.

Neither Antoine nor Kylian wasted time. Susan watched as her brother nodded to his Totodile, who rushed forward toward his downed enemy. Summoning all its gusto, the little crocodile jumped into the air, jaws hanging wide open, and clamped down on the Noctowl's wing.

A pained scream echoed throughout the room as Kylian latched onto his foe with his teeth. The Noctowl tried to flap its wing to shake the little reptile off, but this only made the Totodile clamp down harder. After a moment, Falkner raised his Poke Ball and recalled the Noctowl, ending the fight.

Susan scooped up Basil, then rushed out of the spectator's box and onto the battlefield, where Antoine had already moved forward to collect Kylian. "That was awesome!" she shouted. "You were amazing, Ant!"

"Thanks." Antoine seemed to be more concerned with his Pokémon. He surveyed the Totodile for wounds, occasionally spraying him with a bottle of liquid that had been in his bag. He was just finishing up as Falkner joined them.

"I must say, that wasn't bad at all." The Leader smiled. "You and your Totodile have a remarkable bond forming already. There's still some work to be done, to be sure, but I think you've proven that you know what you're doing. And that's why-" Falkner reached into his jacket and produced a small pin. On closer inspection, it looked a lot like a stylized pair of wings.

"Antoine Germain," he said, sounding a lot more official than previously, "I'd like to personally award you the Zephyr Badge." He placed the badge in Antoine's outstretched palm. "I hope that your journey takes you as high as the clouds."

"Thank you, sir." Antoine stared down at the badge in his hand. Susan heard a slight waver in his voice. "Thank you so much."

"It was my pleasure." The formal tone was gone again. "And I hope you both have success in your-actually, hang on a minute." He looked at Susan. "You're traveling with him, right? You've got a provisional license, I take it?"

"Well, uh…" Antoine began, but Susan cut him off.

"Y-Yes!" Susan lied. "I mean, well...yes. I'm trying to become a trainer too. I mean, well...that is…" She immediately regretted her decision to speak up, as it had provoked a glare of bewilderment from her brother, forcing her to trail off as she began staring at the floor, trying to will herself to retroactively not say anything.

Falkner, however, had already bought it. "Well, then, would you like a try? Granted, I can't award you a Gym badge, but if nothing else, this may be a bit of useful experience for you for when you get your full license later on."

"Actually, sir," Antoine interrupted, "we appreciate it, but we really don't want to keep you waiting. We know you're busy…"

Falkner laughed. "Really, it's no big deal. I've got all day." He turned back to Susan. "Well? How about it, Susan? Want to give it a shot?"

Susan, still avoiding eye contact, hesitated, then nodded. She heard Falkner chuckle again. "Very well, then," he said. "Antoine, if you would, please."

She felt her brother lingering beside her for a moment, before finally walking off the battlefield.

"All right, then," Falkner sighed. "Just so you know, I'll be going a little easier on you than I did your brother. It's nothing personal. I just don't know what your skill level is, so I want to make sure there's much less chance of something going wrong. Do you understand?"

Susan looked up at Falkner and nodded, still hugging Basil close to her chest.

"Good. Just stand on that spot over there, and we'll get started." Once again, the Gym Leader turned and walked off.

Susan turned back and hurried over to the spot Falkner had indicated: a thin white line that had been painted on the ground. She took her place behind it and set Basil on the ground.

"Okay, boy, this is it." She took one last opportunity to flatten out the Chikorita's leaf. "You can do this. Just do what you did against Hoothoot last night, okay?"

Basil cocked his head at her with an inquisitive chirp, then turned to face the opposite end of the battlefield. In front of them, Falkner had sent out his Pokémon-a Pidgey.

 _Wow,_ Susan thought to herself. _He really wasn't joking about taking it easy._

She took a deep breath. Then, with all the limited bravado could muster, she pointed dramatically and shouted out:

" _Go, Basil!"_

The Chikorita took a few casual steps forward and plopped itself on the ground. Clearly, he was far from enthusiastic about being told to "go" anywhere.

Across the battlefield, Falkner scratched his head. "Um...are you sure about that?" he called out, less than impressed. "That may not be the best idea."

"Oh. Um…" Susan racked her brain, but found no answers. "No, I'm sure. He'll be fine. Right, Basil?"

Basil responded with a yawn.

"Okay then, if you're sure." Falkner seemed to shake his head a little. "You can have the first move."

"All right!" Susan tried to point again. "Basil! Use...um…Tackle? Yes, that's it! Tackle!"

Basil hopped to his feet, more startled by the shout than anything else. He trotted over to the bewildered Pidgey and stared it down for a moment. Then, he took a couple of steps back, then launched himself at his foe, dealing what seemed like a rather small amount of damage.

It began to dawn on Susan that she may have bitten off more than she could chew.

Having regained its footing, the Pidgey leapt into the air and flapped its wings, generating a gust of concentrated wind. Despite not being much to look at, the wind was clearly quite strong-strong enough that Susan saw Basil being lifted into the air against his will. The room filled with his squeaks of confusion and fear.

"Basil!" She wanted to run and help him, but for some reason she felt rooted to the spot. She couldn't make her legs move, no matter what she wanted; she was forced to watch as BAsil was tossed about like a blade of grass in a hurricane.

As she watched, though, she saw Basil begin to glow with a dark green aura. Out of nowhere, from within the sustained gust of wind, Basil summoned a set of razor-sharp leaves. The leaves circled around Basil as he struggled to right himself in midair. Susan stood in awe; she'd never known Basil could do anything like this-whatever "this" was.

Basil made some sort of mental effort, it seemed, and the leaves stood still within the gale. After a moment, they attacked, slicing through the air current and impacting the Pidgey below.

Susan watched as the Pidgey was knocked about to and fro by the pugilistic plants, which sent it tumbling to the ground, causing the wind to dissipate. Basil landed on the floor in a dazed heap.

"Basil!" Protocol went out the window. In an instant, Susan was beside her Chikorita. She placed a hand on his chest; her panic subsided when she felt him breathing. Basil labored to look up at her; his eyes had lost some of their luster, and she could tell by his fatigued groans that he wasn't all there.

"And that's what I meant when I asked if you were sure."

Susan's gaze darted upward to see a sympathetic Falkner kneeling next to them. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pink spray bottle, which he applied liberally to the Chikorita. In a short time, Basil's breathing had become much more steady, although he was still dazed.

"I must admit, you've got a brave little fighter there." Falkner put the potion away and stood up. "But he wasn't the right choice for this fight. Your Chikorita's a Grass-type, which means it doesn't fare well against certain kinds of Pokémon-like my Flying-types, for instance."

"I...see." Susan continued to comfort Basil. That...almost made sense.

"Now, if you have any other Pokémon that might be more effective, then you're welcome to try those." Falkner thought for a moment. "I think your best bet would be...well, you could use a handful of types, really. But considering you're from out east...you've probably got a Rock-type, right?"

"Rock-type? Um…" Susan tried to remember whether she'd come into contact with any rocky-looking Pokémon lately. It didn't take long. "Right! Just a second." She ran over to her backpack and began digging through her things. Her wallet, her supplies, her Hoothoot's Poke Ball...ah, here it was. She brushed aside an assortment of random gubbins, seizing on a lone ball that had sifted its way into the bottom of her backpack.

"Here!" She raised the ball over her head to show Falkner. "How about this?" She stood, then tossed the ball underhand into the middle of the arena. Out from the ball came the Geodude she'd caught that morning, trying to get his bearings back.

Falkner nodded in approval. "That's much better. A Geodude is a solid choice against Flying- and Bug-types."

Her nerves subsided a little. "Okay. Now what?"

"Now, let's try it again." Falkner stepped back toward his own line. When he got there, he turned back to the battlefield. "Whenever you're ready," he called out.

"Got it!" Susan replied. She knelt next to the Geodude, trying to get his attention. When the small floating boulder spotted her, he squinted, emitting a low rumble.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier. But I promise I won't do that again, okay?" She reached out to pet the Geodude, but drew her hand back when she saw him recoil. She sighed. "Well, I guess that's fair. But at least for now, let's put that aside, all right? Let's win this fight."

This seemed to be more appealing to the Geodude. Relaxing his muscles somewhat, he floated in place for a moment, as though thinking it over. At last, he nodded, before turning to fact the Pidgey.

"Great!" Susan jumped to her feet and ran back to her line. "Ready!" she called out to Falkner.

Falkner nodded, then commanded his Pidgey. "Okay, Pablo. More of the same! Hit it with a Gust attack!"

Once again, the Pidgey took to the air and flapped its wings, summoning a howling gale. Rather than being swept up in it, however, the Geodude weathered the storm quite well. Susan guessed it was too heavy for the Gym Leader's Pokémon to lift.

After a few more fruitless efforts, Falkner motioned to his Pidgey, who ceased its attack.

"Now it's our turn!" Susan felt her confidence swelling. Finally, an uninterrupted opportunity to do something cool. "Geodude! Use-"

Before Susan could finish her command, she realized that she didn't actually know what moves Geodude could learn. As such, rather than delivering her command with the due pomp and circumstance, her grand moment fell flat once more.

 _Come on…_ She tried to block out the crushing weight of humiliation as she tried to find something to tell her Pokémon to do. She'd barely even seen a Geodude before, and certainly had had no close contact with one. How was she supposed to-

The rock monster from earlier. She remembered now how it threw a large chunk of stone at its opponent. It was a long shot, but maybe if she worded it right…

"Geodude!" She tried one more time. "Throw a rock at it!"

To her great surprise, the Geodude seemed to actually understand this command. Raising its hands, he conjured into being a boulder-not nearly as large as the bigger beast had before, but still sizable compared to the Geodude himself-which floated above his head. Then, with a sweeping motion, he cast the stone directly at the Pidgey, which failed to dodge in time.

The rock landed squarely in the Pidgey's chest-a direct hit. The small bird was thrown back several feet, whereupon it rolled to a stop, unconscious.

Panic set in for the briefest moment as Susan worried about the safety of her opponent's Pokemon, but quickly subsided when she heard the sound of applause coming from the Gym Leader.

"Now _that_ was something," Falkner said. He stopped clapping and walked over to tend to his bird. "That Geodude of yours doesn't mess around."

"Is...is your Pidgey okay?"

"Pablo? Oh, he'll be fine. He's a tough little bird." As if to confirm this, Susan heard a faint warble from across the room. Falkner applied more of the pink spray from before. "That Rock Throw hit him pretty hard, though."

"Oh." _So that's what it's called._ Susan made a mental note to remember that for later.

Falkner finished patching up his Pidgey, then returned it to its Poke Ball with a nod. "Anyway, I'm impressed. You had little to no experience with Pokémon battles, yet you adapted to a bad situation on the fly. I'm sure you'll make a fine trainer someday, once you're older."

"Oh! Um...thank you, sir." Susan felt her cheeks grow warm. "I'm just doing my best."

"That's all anyone can ask." Falkner motioned Antoine over and gave him a pat on the back. "And you, young man, are on the right track. As long as you persevere, you'll have no trouble on your journey."

"Yes, sir." Susan noticed that Antoine seemed to be making a concerted effort to avoid eye contact with her.

Falkner pointed to a door in the back of the Gym. "The exit is right over there," he said. "Best of luck to you both."

Susan nodded, and Antoine mumbled his thanks as the two headed for the exit. As they did, Susan felt herself walking a little slower than usual. Or perhaps it was Ant that was walking faster. She really couldn't tell which was which at the moment.


	7. Chapter 6: Three's A Crowd

"What took you so long?"

Antoine didn't bother responding. He knew Susan would fill in the details. Which, of course, she did.

"Well, after Antoine's battle, Falkner offered to let me try." Susan grinned. "And it went pretty well, too! It was kind of rough at first, but I ended up winning!"

"Nice!" Penny lit up. "Man, I wish I could have been there. I haven't had a chance to see a proper battle in ages. At least not official ones."

"Cool. Now which way is it to Olivine?" Antoine didn't really have time for too much nonsense. The sooner he got Susan to Aunt Carol, the sooner she'd be safely out of the way. He could double back later.

"Well, _someone's_ certainly in a rush." Penny chuckled as she pointed out the western exit. "This way leads up to Ecruteak. From there, we just follow the path west and then south. Simple, right?"

"I guess." Antoine readjusted his bag on his shoulders. "Well then, what are we waiting-"

"Excuse me."

The sudden introduction of another voice caught Antoine off guard. He spun around to see a young man walking toward them with purpose. The first thing that caught Ant's eye was his purple scarf, emblazoned with a familiar logo: a large, fancy letter O interlocked with a smaller F and C next to it.

 _Great,_ he thought to himself. _Another Orsay bandwagoner._ "Can we help you?" he asked, not bothering to hide the spite in his voice.

"Sorry to bother you all," the young man began, clearly missing his thinly veiled annoyance. "I overheard you mentioning leaving for Ecruteak just a moment ago. But I don't think you'll be able to do that right now."

"Oh, really?" Penny put her hands on her hips. "And why's that?"

"That route's blocked off at the moment, I'm afraid." He adjusted his glasses. "They shut it down in the summer for the annual Sudowoodo migration."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. It is that time of year, isn't it?" Penny chuckled nervously, a sheepish grin crawling across her face. "My bad."

Antoine squinted at the blond teenager. "Then how are we supposed to get to Olivine?"

"You'll have to take the long route to get out there." The young man pointed to one side. "If you head south from here, you'll end up in Azalea. From there, cut north through Goldenrod and you'll make it to Ecruteak eventually."

Ant sighed. His to-do list was getting longer by the minute. "So head south, then north. Got it. Thanks."

"Not at all. Glad to help." The young man turned to walk off, but stopped himself. "Oh, and one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Be careful when you get to Azalea. There've been rumors of some shady characters running around there lately. May want to keep an eye out."

 _Wonderful. Just what we needed._ Ant sighed. "Thanks for the heads up, I guess."

"No problem." The young man turned again. "I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere," he called behind him as he left.

Antoine blinked, trying to process this last interjection. What was he talking about?

He didn't have time to reflect before Penny jumped back in: "Seems like a cool guy. Never seen him before, though. So that's weird. But it probably doesn't matter too much, right?"

"Yeah. Well, whatever that was about, we need to head out. Ready, Susan?"

Antoine turned to look at his sister, only to find her continuing to stare after the young man, as if transfixed. Ant hesitated, then tried again. "Susan?" He snapped his fingers a couple of times to try to get her attention.

Whatever had her captivated, his snapping seemed to do the trick. She flinched, as if losing her bearings for a moment, before looking around in a mild panic. Eventually, her eyes met his, and he saw her relax. "What? What is it?"

"We're heading out. We've got to head south toward Azalea Town."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

By the sound of her voice, Antoine could tell something was up. But before he could ask, he felt a tug on his elbow. Penny had seized both of them by the arm and was dragging them toward the gate.

"Let's go, people! We're wasting daylight just standing here!" Penny coupled her words with a redoubled effort to yank them toward their destination.

The thought occurred to Antoine to pull himself free, but for whatever reason, he never acted on it.

* * *

The trio set forth on their newly extended route as morning stretched into afternoon. The well-traveled path gave them a clear heading, which at least was better than nothing. Antoine walked forward with purpose-albeit not so much purpose as to leave his two unforeseen shadows behind, much as he may have wanted to. Their brisk pace bought them a decent amount of headway, such that when they decided to take a brief rest, they were near the halfway point of the route between Violet and its southern terminus.

The trio found a small clearing and sat down to a late lunch. Kylian, having been freed from his Poké Ball, toddled about the clearing, taking in the sights and smells-and occasionally tastes-this new route had to offer. Antoine kept watch on him out of the corner of his eye as they sat. At the other end of the clearing, Goji had plopped down on his rear and was steadfastly refusing to move, occasionally growling and lobbing rocks at nearby bugs that got too close to him.

Basil remained clutched in Susan's arms. He wouldn't listen when Ant had tried to put him in a new ball, and his sister seemed to insist on treating him like the spoiled beast he was. At the moment, the Chikorita's gaze was fixed on the berry pouch of Susan's backpack as his personal servant regaled Penny with the story of her battle.

"...And then when Antoine got finished, Falkner asked if I wanted to try." Susan smoothed down Basil's coat. "I tried to use Basil at first, but he didn't do so well. So instead I sent in Foley, and-"

"Wait a minute." Antoine looked up from his phone. "Foley?"

"Yeah. That's what I decided to call Geodude." She grinned. "Neat, huh? And I decided on a name for my Hoothoot, too. I'm calling him 'Psy.'"

"That sounds kind of dumb."

Susan scoffed. "Says the guy who named his Pokémon 'Kylian,' of all things."

"Hey, that's the name of a real footballer. There's a difference."

"So? It's still a dumb name."

Ant sighed and returned to his phone.

"Anyway," Susan continued, "I sent in Foley, and he used Rock Throw on the Pidgey, and I won! I actually won my first ever Pokémon battle!"

"That's pretty impressive." Ant couldn't tell whether Penny was just humoring his sister or was genuinely enthralled. "And he had no idea you weren't supposed to be able to battle at all?"

"No idea at all. He asked if I had a provisional license, but I said yes and he believed me."

"Speaking of which," Antoine spoke up again, looking back at Susan, "I think we need to set some ground rules if this arrangement is going to work."

"Ground rules?" Susan tilted her head. "Like what?"

"Well, for starters, you don't have a trainer license, and other people aren't going to be as willing to believe you if you lie again."

"But-"

"No buts." Maybe he was being too harsh. But he couldn't take it back now. "If you get caught, it's bad news for the both of us-you for battling without a license, and me for aiding and abetting. And that's to say nothing of our new vagrant friend here," he added, jabbing a thumb at Penny.

"You know, I should really take offense at that," Penny huffed, "but I'm not going to."

"Good. Either way, Susan, no more battling until we get to Aunt Carol's."

"But I-"

"I said, no buts. It's dangerous to take part in Pokémon battles if you don't know what you're doing."

"Oh, come on, Antoine. Is it really that bad?" Susan let Basil down onto the ground to join Goji and Kylian. "I did just fine the first time. What's the worst that could happen?"

Antoine hesitated. She really didn't know anything about any of this, did she? He'd known for a long time how dangerous the world could be, yet their parents had shielded her from so much of it. Was it really his place to burst her bubble?

"You don't understand," he finally responded. "Training Pokémon isn't always as romantic as it seems on TV or in movies. It can be really dangerous-not just for you, but for your Pokémon."

"But Basil got hit pretty hard earlier, and he's still-"

"Falkner was holding back. It was clearly your first battle, and you didn't know Basil would take greater damage from Flying-types. So he didn't go all out. If he had done, then..." He looked away, letting the silence finish his thought for him. He couldn't even bear to consider the only possible ending.

Neither, it seemed, could Susan. Her energy had evaporated in an instant, replaced seemingly by a quiet unease. Ant saw her force her gaze away from him and toward Basil, who had trotted off toward an opening in the treeline.

"You know," Penny spoke up, trying to salvage the discussion, "I'm pretty sure Gym leaders aren't supposed to go all out anyway. Even on the last badge, they can still stop the fight whenever they want if things go badly."

"And how do you know that, exactly?" Ant raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you have experience, surely."

"Hey, I'm allowed to have a life besides being a 'vagrant,'" she replied, making air quotes as she said the last word.

"I thought that _was_ your life."

"You're being kind of stuck up right now, by the way. It's almost funny how highly you think of yourself." She leaned over to Susan and pretended to whisper: "I really don't know how you live with him."

Antoine sighed. He was already regretting having to bring the two of them along.

The moment was interrupted by a faint rumble from the stand of trees opposite them. Basil, who had been investigating the area, instantly turned tail and fled the scene, leaping straight into Susan's arms. From within the forest emerged what seemed to be a collection of yellow balls of fluff with blue faces, all advancing slowly toward their makeshift camp. A quick count indicated at least seven or eight of them, possibly even a dozen.

"What are they?" Susan asked, jumping to her feet. "And what are they doing?"

Antoine looked back at his phone and pulled up the application the professor had had him download before leaving. A few quick scrolls brought him to a picture that matched the Pokémon almost perfectly, with the label "Mareep" underneath. He tapped on the photo and pulled up its entry.

"They're called Mareep," he explained, reading from the article. "They live in packs of up to twenty or so, and they're somewhat territorial. I think maybe they want this clearing back."

"Well, that's not going to fly." Penny turned around and whistled to her Larvitar. "C'mon, Goji! Get your lazy butt over here!"

With what could only be described as a battle cry, Goji leapt in front of the group, readying himself for battle despite the overwhelming number of enemies before him. This sudden aggression startled the Mareep, causing many of them to begin charging themselves with electrical energy.

"Uh...Penny?" Susan asked, "What are you doing?"

Penny giggled. "Oh, don't worry. He'll be fine. Just watch."

Several of the Mareep began to glow with a yellowish light. Almost in unison, the gems on the ends of their tails began to glow.

"No, seriously, what are you doing?" Antoine pulled out Kylian's Poké Ball, in case he needed to recall his Totodile quickly. "There's too many of them."

"Oh, don't be so paranoid. Just watch." Penny turned back to her Pokémon. "Goji, get ready!"

The Larvitar obediently braced itself, setting its feet and raising one stubby arm in front of its face. At just that moment, the Mareep released their energy in unison.

The air folded with a deafening CRACK as a line of electrical bolts blasted forth form the Mareep squarely into Goji's outstretched arm. Antoine tried in vain to avert his eyes as the clearing vanished in a flash of light.

When the light faded, Antoine turned back to the scene of the attack. To his astonishment, Goji still stood tall-a bit winded from the force of the impact, but otherwise unharmed. The ground between him and the Mareep had been charred beyond recognition.

Penny grinned. "Told you he'd be okay." Her focus returned to the task at hand. "Okay, Goji, let's get going. Hit them with a Rock Slide!"

On cue, the Larvitar summoned a wave of stones, which he hurled at the herd of Mareep. The brunt of the attack crashed into the leader of the pack, sending it skidding backward from the impact. Unfazed, the other Mareep began charging once again.

"Okay, new problem. This is going to take forever." Penny crossed her arms. "You guys want to help, or what?"

Antoine shook his head. "I can't. Kylian's a Water-type."

Susan rummaged within her backpack. "I've got Basil and Psy. Does that help?"

"Your Hoothoot would be at a disadvantage too," Ant reminded her. "What about that Geodude you used?"

"Oh yeah!" Susan plucked Foley's ball out of her bag. "That's twice now this guy's come in handy." She tossed the ball in front of her, and with a flash of light her Geodude had joined the fray. "You too, Foley!" she shouted to it. "Rock Throw!"

Foley obeyed, sending another stone straight in between the eyes of another attacking Mareep. The electric sheep responded with another beam of concentrated electricity, but once again both of the Ground-types shrugged off the attack.

This went on for some time, with the Rock-types hurling rocks and absorbing attacks from their opponents. With no progress being made, Antoine stepped away to tend to his Totodile, who had taken the opportunity to hide behind a nearby boulder to avoid any stray lightning bolts.

"It'll be okay," he reassured the small crocodile, stroking him along his spine in an effort to calm him down. "You'll be fine, I promise."

Kylian let out a high-pitched grunt of approval as he snuggled up to his trainer.

Meanwhile, desperation was setting in on the other side of the rock. "This is taking forever," Penny groaned. "Can't your Geodude do anything else besides throw rocks at things?"

"I don't know. I've never tried asking it." Susan leaned in to get her Geodude's attention. "Hey, um...Foley? Can you do something a little more...effective?"

It wasn't really clear whether the Geodude understood her or not, but nevertheless, its immediate response was to turn toward the Mareep and let out a loud roar, before slamming itself into the ground. The sheer magnitude of the impact sent a fierce vibration along the ground in all directions. This vibration seemed to have a profound effect on most of the Pokémon present-Goji lost his balance and fell over, while the Mareep by and large lost their footing and fell to the ground. Antoine grabbed onto the boulder in front of him as Kylian tucked his head in.

When the rumbling had settled and the dust had cleared, Antoine regained his feet, dusting himself off. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

"Fine here." Penny, who had dropped to one knee, got up and went over to right the fallen Goji. Susan, meanwhile, struggled to her feet from her backside and dusted herself off. She naturally had no help from Basil, who seemed to have stood his ground through the whole thing-probably less through physical fortitude and more from sheer stubbornness.

At the other side, most of the Mareep, unsurprisingly deterred by the tectonic assault, had dispersed and fled. All that remained of the flock was a lone straggler, who was still struggling to find its footing. Foley, sensing the job was not yet completed, brought forth another rock to finish what it had started.

"Foley, wait!" Susan had finally righted herself. She held out Foley's Poke Ball. In a flash of light, the Geodude disappeared, the rock it was holding landing softly on the ground.

Antoine rubbed his forehead. _Here we go again._ "What's wrong, Su?"

"Look at her, Ant." Susan pointed at the Mareep, which had given up trying to pick itself up for the moment. Instead, it let out a mournful bleat, as if calling for help.

"They left this one all by herself. We can't just leave her here like this." Susan turned to Antoine. "Do you have any spare Poké Balls?"

Ant groaned. "Susan, we can't just catch every Pokémon you feel sorry for. We'd spend a fortune on balls. And besides, you're only supposed to carry six of them at a time. What are you going to do when you can't carry any more?"

Rather than answer, Susan scrunched her face into a pout. Ant instantly knew he'd lost this argument; there was no convincing her when she went into this mode. "Look," he tried, "the professor only gave me a handful of Poké Balls to use. After that, I have to spend money to replace them." He gestured to her bag. "And besides, you said you grabbed a few of them when you left home. Surely you haven't already run out, right?"

Susan blinked, breaking her concentration. "I...um…" She looked at her bag, then back at her brother. "Just a second." In a flash, she practically dived into the top compartment of her backpack, flinging odds and ends in all directions. Ant had to duck as a rogue potion whizzed past his head; Basil, meanwhile, absorbed the impact of what looked like a spare makeup case with relative ease. At last, she emerged, holding aloft the last remaining Poké Ball in her bag. "Found it!" she cried out.

"Wonderful. So use that, then."

"Okay, but…" Her brow furrowed. "But what if we need it later?"

Before Ant could respond, a groan cut across the flow of conversation. "Just throw the damn ball already," Penny called out, still tending to her Larvitar.

Susan didn't need to be told again. Squaring to her target, she leaned back and pitched the ball underhand, straight at the Mareep. With a flash, the ball captured its target and bounced to the ground. It shook back and forth once or twice before coming to rest where it had landed.

"Got it!" Susan jumped for joy. She ran over to collect her newest catch. "Welcome to the family, little one," she cooed, presumably unaware that the ball was soundproof. "I think I even know what I'm going to call you already."

"Oh yeah?" Ant's eyebrow went up again. "What's that?"

"Well, that little ball on her tail looked like a gemstone, right?" Susan motioned with her hand to convey the spherical object she was referring to. "So I think Gem would be a good name for her. Wouldn't you agree?"

Ant smirked. "Better than 'Psy,' at least."

"Very funny."

* * *

By the time they had packed up, the sun had already passed well beyond the middle of the sky. After several more hours of walking, the sky had turned from bright blue to a deep, penetrating orange as the sun said its last goodbyes for the day. Before the darkness could truly take hold, fortune intervened in the form of a Pokémon Center; the three checked into the trainer dormitories for the night, resolving to continue first thing the next morning.

Antoine tucked his belongings into the provided locker and climbed into his rented bed, not even bothering to change clothes or shower. He'd sort it out in the morning, he told himself. Right now, he was too drained to do anything but collapse.

Yet, for whatever reason, sleep eluded him at first. No matter how he tossed, he felt too tense to just fall asleep. Here he was, more or less on his own (his unforeseen tagalongs notwithstanding), forced to make do with little more than his own instinct and direction. And, well, his parents' bank account didn't hurt either, now that he thought about it.

Even with this lifeline, though, Antoine felt a growing sense of unease about the journey still to come. He wasn't sure if he was excited or afraid, exactly, but whichever it was, part of him didn't want to wait. It was finally his time to prove himself-to show that the professor hadn't misplaced his trust by selecting him for the program. Every fiber of his being told him he was equal to the task; it was just a matter of doing it.

That wouldn't be so hard, right?

As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, Antoine noticed a distinct lack of snoring from the bunk opposite him. As quietly as he could, he rolled his head over to face toward the aisle. Sure enough, as best he could make out, Susan was still wide awake, seemingly engaging in some deep thought of her own.

"Susan?" he whispered across the aisle, trying not to wake up the few other trainers in the room. "Are you awake?"

He made out a subtle movement from her bunk. "Yeah," the soft reply came. "Sorry. It's just…"

"What is it?"

"I just realized…" She sounded on the verge of tears. "We may not get to sleep in our own beds for a long time."

Antoine started to give a snarky reply, but he couldn't come up with anything. Something about her tone gave him pause. It wasn't a complaint-it was a realization, one that seemed to be weighing on her more than it had him so far.

"I guess you're right," he whispered back.

Susan said nothing for a moment. The sound of the mattress creaking indicated she'd rolled back onto her back. "I'm sorry," she said at last, her whisper in serious danger of turning into a sob. "I know this was stupid of me. But I did what I thought I needed to do."

"I know you did." Antoine tried to sound as reassuring as he could. "I promise, we'll get through this. It'll all work out."

More silence. Then, one more short whisper: "I love you, bro."

"I love you too, sis."

And that was the end of it. Ant kept his eyes open for a while longer, willing himself to stay awake as long as it took. At last, when he was satisfied that the snoring coming across the aisle was indeed his sister's, he finally felt himself relax. Soon, he was able to drift away as well, joining his companions in much-needed rest.


	8. Chapter 7: Darkening Skies

When Susan woke up, Antoine's bunk was empty. Panic surged through her as she hastily pulled on her clothes and grabbed her bag, she'd overslept, he'd left her behind, she was going to-

Then again, she now noticed, there was Penny just a little bit farther down the hall, snoring away as though this wasn't her first time in a proper bed in who knew how long. And more to the point, she now noticed Ant's phone lying on the mattress. The sight made Susan relax a bit. Surely he wouldn't have left that behind, even if he did want to ditch the two of them. Still, her curiosity now piqued, she finished her preparations and walked out to the lobby of the Pokémon Center, where she checked out Basil from the kennel area before heading out the door, her Chikorita in her arms.

The unusually windy morning greeted her as she stepped outside. Tiny flecks of would-be raindrops pecked at her skin-promises of a coming thunderstorm, underlined by the grey consuming the sky some way off.

As she looked north, Susan spotted her brother, sparring with a couple of passing trainers along the route. Susan began to approach, but soon changed her mind, instead watching from afar as Ant commanded his Pokémon. Kylian was looking as capable as ever, but she noticed he'd been joined by a new Pokémon: a small, periwinkle-colored creature with no arms and a large tail. Whatever it was, it seemed perfectly happy, despite its lack of appendages.

Ant shouted a command, and the two Pokémon fired jets of water in unison, their streams linking up and slamming into his opponents' Pokémon to knock them down for the count. Ant shook hands with the losers before taking a knee over his own team, tending to their minor injuries. Only now did Susan approach them.

"There you are!"

Antoine jumped a little bit when he heard Susan's voice. His gaze snapped onto her, and she saw his face relax a bit once he realized who she was. "Hey, Susan," he replied. "You're up already?"

"Sort of. I was just worried because you were already gone." Susan readjusted Basil to redistribute his weight. "But then I saw you left your phone behind, so I knew you hadn't left us behind too."

"Wait, did I really?" Ant scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "That probably wasn't smart of me, was it?"

"Not really."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I know." She giggled. "Anyway, who's this?" Basil leapt out of her arms as she knelt to be more on eye level with Antoine's newest catch. The small blue creature studied Susan's face for a moment, then hopped up and down a couple of times with a big smile.

"This is a Wooper," her brother explained. "I was taking Kylian out for some early morning training, and I found this little guy watching us, so I caught him." He beamed down at the Wooper, who had turned toward an inquisitive Basil with his grin still intact. "The Pokédex says Wooper are fairly resilient. So I've named him Hugo, after one of my favorite goalkeepers."

"Hugo…" Susan felt a twinge of jealousy as Basil sniffed at the little salamander. That was actually a pretty good name, but she didn't want to admit it in front of Ant. He'd never stop talking about how good he was at naming things.

In the meantime, Basil continued to sniff at Hugo, who didn't seem to mind one bit, if his perpetual grin was any indication. Eventually Basil backed off, a confused look on the little creature's face. Evidently Hugo took this as an invitation, as he looked at Basil for a moment, then squirted him with a playful jet of water.

Basil recoiled a bit from the jet, then glared at Hugo, who simply grinned again. A little farther away, Kylian broke out in laughter. Susan was on the point of rushing in to keep the Chikorita from retaliating; fortunately, though, his only reply was an annoyed snort as he turned away and walked back to his trainer.

"Anyway, we should probably head back." Antoine pulled out a pair of Poké Balls and called his Pokémon back. "We need to get a move on."

"You're right." And he was right. After all, it was his journey, so he got to decide the timetable. And where they stopped. And what route they took. And how often they stopped for breaks.

Susan began to realize that maybe this wasn't quite what she'd had in mind when she envisioned her grand, region-spanning journey to find her birth parents.

* * *

Surprisingly, despite how ominous it may have looked from the outside, Union Cave turned out to be rather uneventful. Even despite the lack of natural light, Susan was finding it relatively easy to find her way through. That may have been thanks to Penny, who, surprisingly, seemed to have an almost supernatural sense of direction. With Goji perched on her shoulder to serve as a lookout, the girl led her and Antoine with confidence, only pausing at forks to work out the proper direction in which to continue.

Antoine and Susan kept a short distance behind, not wanting to risk losing their guide. Behind them, Kylian, Hugo and Basil tottered along, occasionally pausing to study the odd indentions in the wall or gaze into one of the many pools of water along the path.

"I've already got the Gym battle scheduled for this afternoon," Ant was explaining. "I didn't know how long it would take us in here, so I had to guess. But now I'm starting to wish I'd signed for an earlier time."

"I'm sure they'd be fine if you show up early." Susan thought for a moment. "Azalea isn't that big, right? It can't be that busy, surely."

"There's no telling. And don't call me Shirley."

"What are you-" It took a moment for the joke to land. Susan grinned as she gave her brother a playful shove. "Oh, shut up."

Antoine returned her smile with a little chuckle. "Sorry. It was too easy."

"I guess it makes sense that you like soccer, because you're bad at being funny."

"Hey, just because you can't tell a left back from a left winger doesn't mean you get to make fun of the best sport in the world."

"Oh, really?" Susan crossed her arms and smirked. It was on now. "Then why do so many players flop around like ragdolls when they fall over?"

"I told you, it's gamesmanship!" His voice went up a whole octave. "Getting your team a good attacking position is worth losing a little dignity."

"Oh yeah? And what about that Lúcinho guy, then?"

Antoine hesitated, then sighed. "Okay, fine, maybe _some_ players take it too far and ruin the game for everyone else. And yeah, Lúcinho's pretty bad when it comes to that sort of thing, talented as he is. But still-"

"Hang on."

Susan looked ahead to see Penny staring at a junction in the cavern. The girl looked one way, then another, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She stood there for a moment, quite still. Just as Susan was about to ask what was wrong, though, Penny's eyes opened, and she pointed to their left. "That way," she said, before taking the indicated route, Ant and Susan following close behind, the latter leaning over to her brother as they walked.

"Wow, she's uncanny," Susan whispered, trying in vain to keep her voice from carrying. "I didn't know she'd be so good with directions."

"Probably has to do with living in a big city by herself for so long." Antoine wasn't that good at keeping his voice down either. "After a while, she probably just sort of...knows which way to go."

"I guess. But what does that have to do with caves?"

"I don't know. It was just a guess."

"But that doesn't make any-"

"You two are bad at whispering, you know that?" Penny's chuckle echoed back from up ahead. "I'd need earplugs if you were any louder back there."

Susan snapped straight, her cheeks warming. "Sorry! We were just trying to figure out how you're so good with directions."

Penny looked back over her shoulder. "Practice, mainly. You've just gotta have a sense of where you are and where you're going. You can make up the rest as you go along."

"Wait, is that what you've been doing this whole time?" Antoine now straightened as well. "Just guessing?"

"Sort of, yeah!" Penny looked forward again as Antoine stifled a groan. "That's all there really is to it."

"Great. So we've been wandering through this cave pretty much at random, then."

"Hey, I didn't say that!" Penny whirled around and frowned in Ant's direction. "There's a method to it. Every turn we've taken has been a choice I've made, based on where we are in relation to where we want to be." She turned back to face another junction ahead of them. Wasting no time, she took the path leading right. "Except that one," she called back as they rounded the corner. "That one was just a wild guess."

Susan couldn't help but chuckle at Antoine's exasperation. He was kind of funny when he got riled up. It seemed as though he could tell he was reaching that point, because he promptly changed the subject.

"Oh, by the way. I did some research, and apparently the Azalea Pokémon Gym specializes in Bug-types." He pulled out his phone and opened the Pokédex. "And apparently, Bug-types are especially weak to Rock-types, but...I don't have any of those."

Susan instantly knew what he was getting at. "So…?"

"So what I'm about to ask is…" She could hear the annoyance in his voice as he resigned himself to his question. "Can I borrow Foley for the Gym battle?"

Susan gasped in false shock. "Wait a minute. Did I hear correctly? Did you just... _ask your little sister for help?_ "

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

"No, wait, I'm serious! This is so rare, it's almost like a dream. In fact…" She leaned in again, ear-first. "Can you say that again, one more time? Just so I know you mean it?"

She heard Antoine sigh. Then, like a gunshot right into her eardrum:

"SUSAN CAN I BORROW YOUR GEODUDE PLEASE?"

She nearly tripped over a nearby pile of stones on the ground as she recoiled from the shout. Her brother laughed, and she couldn't help but join in. She'd kind of walked into that one.

"Yeesh, you didn't have to be so loud." Susan cleaned out her ear, which was still ringing a bit. "You realize this place echoes, right?"

"Well, yeah, but you said you didn't know if you were hearing me correctly, so I had to make sure you- _hey!_ " Susan cut him off with another, more forceful shove, to which Ant responded in kind. Behind them, their Pokémon stared up at them quizzically, trying to understand why their trainers were laughing and fighting at the same time.

Ant was the first of the two to trail off his laughter. "Anyway, you never answered my question." He took a deep breath to regain his senses, then continued. "Do you mind if I borrow your Geodude? I mean, considering it technically has to be registered to me anyway."

"Why's that?" This was news to Susan. Registered?

"Well, when you catch a Pokémon, you have to make sure it's accounted for. So you have to scan it into the Pokédex app in order to make sure it's registered properly." Ant dug into his backpack and produced a small device. He plugged it into his phone and pulled up the Pokédex. "Let me see one of your Poké Balls for a second."

"Okay…?" Susan plunged into her own disorganized mess of a backpack and pulled out the ball containing the Mareep she'd caught yesterday. She handed it to her brother, who popped it into a slot on the device and touched the screen of his phone. After a moment, the device beeped, and the screen displayed a success message, prompting him to remove the ball and toss it back at her.

"That's all there is to it." Ant detached the device from his phone. We'll do the others later. I don't think the internet reception here is all that great, so I don't want to risk any more."

Susan, meanwhile, was blown away. "That's so cool! You just-and then it just-that's really really awesome." She called ahead: "Hey, Penny, have you seen this yet?"

To their surprise, Penny didn't seem to respond. She just kept walking.

Susan gave her a moment, then decided not to try again. Her mind was probably elsewhere. "Anyway," she resumed, looking back at her brother, "I guess you can use Foley if you think it'll help." She stirred around the items in her bag one more time, eventually finding her Geodude's ball. She handed it to Antoine. "Just be careful with him, okay?"

"I will." Ant accepted the ball with great care, attaching it to his hip. "Then again, it's literally a giant rock with eyes and a mouth. So I don't see what kind of damage can really be done to it."

Susan chuckled again. "I guess you're right. He is sort of-"

"We're here."

Susan broke off her sentence to notice a huge opening in the cave before them, beyond which lay acres upon acres of green. Off to one side lay what looked like a dirt path; it seemed to lead through a stand of trees, from the other side of which rose a thin pillar of smoke.

"Told you I knew my way around." Penny leaned against the archway leading outside. She wasn't smiling. "This is why you always trust the mischievous street urchin, boys and girls."

"Thanks, Penny!" Susan made sure to smile even though she wouldn't receive one in return. "You really helped us. We probably would have been stuck in there for ages by ourselves."

She paused for a moment, expecting Ant to chime in. When he didn't right away, she glanced at him out of the side of her eye, before delivering a soft jab to his midsection with her elbow. This seemed to spur him into speech at last:

"Oh, uh, yeah. You really helped us out, I'll admit. Thanks."

Penny just shook her head. "Whispering and sincerity. That's two things you're bad at now. And yes, I'm keeping score." She turned away and motioned for them to follow. "Come on, then. Pretty sure Azalea's just up this way."

Susan glanced at her brother, who just shrugged. That shrug pretty much captured her own feelings on the subject.

Then again, what else were they going to do at this point?

* * *

The now steel-gray sky seemed to promise impending rain, but for now held off. All the better, since even in these suboptimal conditions the town of Azalea was something to behold. The small village stirred only occasionally with the signs of life, instead seeming to prefer a relaxed, peaceful stillness that seemed almost natural for it. It was the kind of place one might consider retiring to someday.

Yet for all its rustic charm, the only thing Susan was able to notice upon first entering Azalea Town was the frankly absurd number of flyers pasted on just about every building. Roof to foundation, wall to wall, on the Pokémon Center, on houses, on just about anything with a permanent standing-these strange, off-white sheets of paper covered almost every square inch of vacant space available-and some non-vacant space as well.

A stiff breeze picked up as they crossed into town, forcibly detaching one of the leaves from the makeshift trees and sending it floating toward them. Penny snatched it out of the air and began to examine it.

Susan had to ask. "What does it say?"

Penny turned the page over a few times, scrutinizing it from every angle. Then, she sighed. "Don't know," she replied, a somber look on her face. "I never learned how to read."

"Are you serious?" Antoine sounded almost indignant, causing Penny to laugh and breaking her facade.

"Jeez, I'm just kidding! Lighten up, seriously." She cleared her throat. "Let's see, now… _Exotic Pokémon! One-of-a-kind experience! Endless fun! Baoba's Safari Extravaganza, opening soon!_ " She blinked. "Wow. Looks like someone got a little overzealous with their promotion efforts."

"A 'Safari Extravaganza?'" Susan pondered for a moment. "Is that anything like a Friend Safari, by chance?"

"A what?" Penny shook her head. "I don't really know. Probably not. If anything, it seems like it may be closer to a Safari Zone."

Antoine raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"What, you haven't heard of the Safari Zone they used to operate over in Kanto?" Penny scoffed. "It was only the greatest thing ever! They brought in all these Pokémon from all over the world, and you could go in and see them in person, and if you paid enough you could even catch some of them!" Penny let out a wistful sigh before continuing. "Of course, they had to jack up the prices after some weirdo caught a whole herd of Tauros there once, which eventually led to them having to shut down, but it was still pretty amazing. How come you've never heard of it before? What are you, foreigners?"

Antoine cleared his throat. "Yes, actually. I moved here with my mom from Kalos when I was almost a teenager."

This seemed to trip Penny up. "O-Oh. I see." Susan watched her cheeks begin to glow as she floundered about verbally. "Well, uh...I mean...you still should have heard about it, though, was my point. It was pretty famous."

"It does sound like fun. Maybe this one will be open by the time we reach there." Susan tried to get a glimpse of the flyer. "Where does it say it is?"

"Um…" Penny checked the flyer again. "It says here it's just west of Cianwood."

"Cianwood? But isn't that an island?"

"Yeah. Seems like poor planning to me. People are already paying for a boat ride across if they're going to visit the town, so why would they splash even more cash just to see some rare Pokémon?

"Maybe they're banking on customers riding their Pokémon there instead?" Antoine interjected.

"I guess. But that's still a weird business model."

"At any rate, my battle isn't until…" Antoine checked his phone. "Actually, it's only about an hour from now. I guess I lost track of what time it was while we were in that cave. Let's head over to the Gym and kill some time."

"Sure."

"Oh, and one more thing." Antoine looked Susan in the eye. "No battling this time, even if the Gym Leader offers to let you."

Susan felt her meager hopes of a second battle in as many days evaporate. "Aww…"

And so, after a quick stop at the Pokémon Center for some last-minute rejuvenation, the trio left for the nearby Gym. Once again, they sat in the waiting room for some time as other challengers entered and left the arena. It seemed as though this Gym was a little less busy than the one in Violet City, so it came as little surprise when Antoine's name was called half an hour early.

Ant nodded at Susan when his turn came. At this signal, she and penny ascended a stairway in the far corner of the room, which led to a door labeled "Gallery." Through the door was a sectioned-off set of bleachers facing an open, railed balcony that looked out over the battlefield from a safe distance. Several observers had already gathered in this particular section; perhaps they were challengers or spectators from an earlier battle, or maybe they just enjoyed watching Gym challenges as a hobby. The two found the best seats they could as a voice crackled forth from the conveniently placed speakers near them.

" _The next battle will feature Antoine Germain from New Bark Town,"_ said the voice. " _Antoine has one prior badge."_

Susan couldn't help but hop up and down a little in her seat. Even though she'd done this once before, her excitement was getting the better of her once again. She couldn't imagine ever being tired of watching Pokémon battles in person.

Penny, meanwhile, seemed more taken with the gallery than with the upcoming battle. "Pretty nice," she mumbled, whistling her approval. "Hell of a lot nicer than Violet, for sure. Of course, you can't beat the Gym back home…"

Before Susan could ask her to elaborate, the other spectators began to applaud. Susan looked down to the battlefield to see what had to have been Bugsy, the Azalea Gym Leader. She'd seen him on TV a few times; apparently he was supposed to be one of the next rising stars in the Pokémon world, and had even been appointed as the youngest Gym Leader in history. All this, despite barely being Antoine's age. Somehow, even from this distance, Susan could tell he was shorter than the cameras made him look.

Across from him, of course, stood Antoine, who seemed even more confident than usual. He was gripping a Poké Ball in his hand; Susan had no doubt whose it was. Even if she couldn't battle herself, at least she was still sharing this experience with her brother, even if in such a small way.

Bugsy was the first to speak. "So you're Antoine, then?" Ant nodded, and Bugsy grinned in response. "Nice to meet you. I'm Bugsy, and I'm the Gym Leader around here. I'm looking forward to seeing how you battle."

"Same here," Ant replied.

"Great. Then let's get right to it." Bugsy produced a new kind of Poké Ball-a black and white sphere with yellow markings on its top half that Susan immediately recognized as an Ultra Ball.

With a flick of his wrist, Bugsy sent out his Pokémon of choice: none other than his Scyther, one of his more famous Pokémon. The crowd immediately burst into applause upon seeing the magnificent insect. For Susan, there was a moment of unease; the lights overhead caught one of the Scyther's bladed arms, making it glint in an ominous manner as it rose up and down with the beat of its massive wings.

Susan remembered at this moment that Bugsy had two Scyther and a Scizor. Judging by the absence of a scar along its abdomen, it seemed he was using his younger Scyther, Tanto. Good thing, too; even with a type advantage, Foley would never have been ready for the elder Katana-or worse, the Scizor, Odachi.

"That thing's a monster," Susan heard Penny murmur beside her.

"It's okay," she explained. "He's not using his strongest Pokémon for the battle. He isn't even using his strongest Scyther."

"I guess. It still looks nasty, though."

Undaunted, Ant flung the ball clenched in his hand, and out came Foley. Susan couldn't help but smile as she saw her Geodude materialize before them.

Bugsy was the first to act. "Okay, Tanto, let's soften this boulder up a bit. Use Leer!"

With an angry glare, the Scyther stared down the Geodude and let loose a roar. Though seemingly unfazed, Foley did seem to float backward a bit, more startled by the roar than anything else.

Now it was Antoine's turn. "Geod-I mean, Foley! Rock Polish!"

Susan wasn't sure what that meant, but clearly Foley did; he began to roll himself on the ground, in what seemed to be an effort to slough off the excess dirt buildup he'd gathered. Susan took a moment to allow herself to regret not learning how to properly bathe a Rock-type since she'd caught him.

"Stay patient, Tanto!" Bugsy cried out. "Use Focus Energy!"

In response, the giant insect crossed its scythe-arms and closed its eyes, centering its focus. Susan stared down at the Scyther from her seat. What was it trying to accomplish?

It didn't seem as though Antoine knew either, as he'd already begun his next command.

"Foley, hit it with a Rock Throw!"

This sent an excited murmur through the small crowd. They seemed impressed that such a young trainer had so quickly picked up on the Scyther's weakness.

And yet as the Geodude called into being a large stone, nearly as big as it was itself, Susan felt a small pit open up at the bottom of her stomach. Something wasn't right. She couldn't tell what, but something was telling her-warning her, perhaps-that this wasn't right. Maybe she was just nervous watching someone else command her Geodude. Yes, that had to be it.

It was kind of funny, actually, she mused to herself. It hadn't even been two full days since she'd left home, and she was already growing possessive of her Pokémon.

Foley hoisted the massive rock over its head with little difficulty, drawing some oohs and ahs from the easily impressed crowd. With a heave and a great shout, the Geodude heaved the rock up and down a couple of times, as if pretending to bench-press the stone, the little showoff. Then, with no small exertion, he lofted the rock into the air, where it tumbled once or twice before crashing into the Scyther with a great _SMASH_.

The audience applauded as the dust kicked up by the attack's impact began to dissipate, revealing the Scyther laid out, seemingly unconscious on the ground. Then from beyond the cloud of dirt, they caught sight of Bugsy, who seemed impressed, albeit unintimidated.

"Not bad!" Bugsy nodded in approval. "I see you've done your research. I like to see that in a challenger."

"Thanks," Susan heard Antoine call out in response.

"But research alone isn't always enough," Bugsy continued. "You've got to have the resilience to put that research into practice." He whistled to his Scyther, who seemed to barely stir. Then, in an instant, it had bounded to its feet, worse for wear from the attack but still hanging on.

The pit in Susan's stomach turned into a chasm. Something was wrong-very, very wrong.

It seemed that Foley had sensed as much, judging by the look of utter disbelief on his face. Antoine, similarly flabbergasted, was suddenly fidgeting with his watch-a sign Susan recognized as a clue that he was out of his depth.

Bugsy took the chance to press his advantage. "Tanto! Hit him with a U-Turn, then retreat to follow up!"

The Scyther took off, fast as lightning, knifing through the air as it charged down its foe. At the last moment before impact, it rotated ever so subtly so that its feet would make impact rather than its head.

The actual strike didn't visually register in Susan's mind; it was almost like blinking, except her eyes were wide open the entire time. Still, she never saw the moment of impact; all she knew was what came before, a loud crack followed by the sound of crumbling, and what came immediately after.

The crowd, moments ago in rapturous excitement, had fallen silent, save for a dull murmur that began to echo across the gallery. There was a flash of light as Bugsy withdrew his Scyther and called out for a medic. Antoine stood rooted, all the color having drained from his face in an instant.

And then Susan's eyes caught sight of a pile of rocks, all covered in a sickly, deep-red goo.

It was too much. She screamed, but nothing came out of her mouth. She lurched forward toward the railing. A hand tried to hold her back, but failed. Her legs turned to jelly as she grasped onto the railing for dear life, she was falling, what was happening? Everything swirled around her, she tried to see, she couldn't tell what had happened, she couldn't see the body-no, not the body, Foley, he was okay, he had to be, he was just hurt, that's all, he was-he-

Susan wasn't quite sure what happened for some time after that.


	9. Chapter 8: Downpour

The first thing Susan heard as she came to was the soft, distant rattle of raindrops rolling off the roof. For just a single moment, its gentle cadence drowned out her inner turmoil, and she thought-hoped, perhaps-that maybe it had all been another dream.

But no. As quickly as it had come, her feeble hope had been washed away by a wave of nausea as reality took hold once more. She felt the warmth of the blanket around her as she tried to sit up, ultimately succeeding.

"Oh thank god."

Susan's heart leapt out of her chest as she whipped her head around to see Penny sitting in a chair next to her bed. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves as Penny spoke.

"We were starting to get worried there. You woke up pretty much immediately once we got you he, then went right back to sleep. You were out for a while after that." The girl took a moment to stroke her Larvitar, who had perched on the windowsill next to her and was currently munching on a berry. "It's nearly nighttime now. Antoine got back from the Gym a little while ago, but he didn't seem to be in the mood to talk."

Susan opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth felt so warm and dry that she could barely form words. She finally got out a question, phrased as a single word: "Basil?"

Penny nodded toward the foot of her bed. "He's been there pretty much since they got you here."

Susan now looked down to see that, indeed, there was her Chikorita, curled up and snoring away as he often did. She nodded, prompting Penny to keep talking.

"After you freaked out, they got a couple of medics to take you here. Your brother had to stay back for some legal stuff, I think, but they let me come with you, so go figure, I guess." She gazed out the window. "Doctor said it was just a fainting spell, and that as long as you get some rest and stay hydrated, you should be back to full strength by the morning."

Susan nodded again. The words weren't coming this time.

"You know…" Penny's voice hitched a bit. "If there's anything I can...you know, anything that'll help, just…"

Nod. Now the tears were coming, but Susan held them back as best she could. She wouldn't let herself believe it. She couldn't.

Silence resumed its hold on the room. Penny stood abruptly, scooping up Goji. "I'll be back later. I told Antoine I'd let him know when you were awake." With a hesitant glance, the girl left the room, leaving Susan there by herself.

She sat in silence as she lost track of time, the ticking of the clock on the wall the only sound breaking the auditory void. She watched Basil's tiny chest rise and fall as he snoozed away. Susan had to admit that she was a little jealous; if only she could be so peaceful.

She felt her stomach crawl as her mind dwelt on the last image she'd seen before blacking out: the sight of her Geodude dea-no, she couldn't even think that word right now-of her Geodude lying on the floor of the Gym. Her thoughts panned upward to Antoine, standing there in shock. Couldn't he have done something? No, perhaps not. She'd heard tell of Pokémon battles being potentially unsafe, and Scyther were known for their incredible power-that was why Bugsy trained them. And it certainly wouldn't be like a Gym Leader to set out to intentionally injure challengers' Pokémon-or worse. It wasn't Bugsy's fault, and it certainly wasn't Antoine's fault.

But it was.

But it wasn't.

She heard the door swing open, but didn't bother to look up to see who it was. A figure made its way around the foot of her bed to its side, before taking a seat where Penny had been just a moment ago. Susan kept staring at Basil, for lack of better options. She wasn't quite ready to look her brother in the face.

Antoine, for his part, seemed to have trouble speaking himself. It was difficult to blame him; he'd seen what she'd seen, and had been closer to it to boot. Eventually, Susan heard him clear his throat and make an attempt:

"Su, I…"

A pause. He'd false-started. He took a breath, and tried again.

"Su...I'm sorry."

Susan felt a wave of melancholy wash over her. Of course he'd apologize. It was his fault.

But it wasn't.

But it was.

"I don't know how it happened," her brother continued. "I should have been more careful, but...I didn't expect that Scyther to be so strong…"

Susan continued to say nothing. Basil stirred in his sleep; what could he be dreaming about?

"Bugsy wanted me to tell you he's sorry, too. And he gave me the Hive Badge, I think to try to make up for it." Out of the corner of her eye, Susan could see Ant holding up his lapel, trying to show her the badge. He must have sensed that this wasn't working, because he withdrew it in a bit of a hurry.

Basil was tossing and turning now, letting out little whimpers every now and then. She leaned forward and began to pet him, which seemed to ease the Chikorita's sleep a little.

Antoine took another moment before trying again. "The doctor said you'd be free to go once they make sure you aren't at risk of this happening again. He said it must have been the shock that caused it."

Susan nodded a bit, her efforts still focused on petting Basil, who was now nearly back into his regular nap cycle.

She sat there for a while as time melted again. Then, with no warning, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. When she looked, she saw her brother leaning over the side of the bed to embrace her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear. "I didn't want this to happen. I'm sorry."

Without hesitation, Susan returned his hug, reaching her arms around him and squeezing as tight as she could. Now the tears at last began to flow.

It wasn't his fault. It really wasn't.

* * *

Once the doctor had confirmed that Susan was in good enough health to be discharged, the trio went straight to the Pokémon Center for the night. With nothing else to do after the draining events of the day, and with the hour so late, the only thing left to do was to try to get some sleep.

Yet for the first time in Susan's life, sleep refused to come. She stared up at the bottom of the bunk above her, trying to will herself to become drowsy. Yet for whatever reason, her brain was still very much active. Was it because she'd practically just woken up a couple of hours ago? That had to be it.

She tried her best to avoid thinking about Foley too much, instead trying to focus on becoming mentally unfocused. But no matter what errant train of thought she chased, it always ended up back at her Geodude. It still hadn't set in that he was...no, she wasn't ready to admit it yet. There had to have been a mistake.

Her mind's protests were in vain, and she knew it. She rolled over onto her side to look across the aisle. There was Antoine lying on his bunk with her back to her, seemingly without a care. It was almost as if he didn't care, as if he didn't even realize-

No, that wouldn't do either. _No point getting angry,_ she tried to tell herself. _You know it wasn't his fault._

Then whose was it? It had to have been _someone's_ fault, right?

Susan racked her brain, trying to find a scapegoat. Bugsy? He was a Gym Leader; he wouldn't dare attack with the intent to kill. The Scyther? No, she'd seen it use that attack before on weaker Pokémon, and while they'd been knocked out by it, usually in spectacular fashion, they were ultimately fine, as far as she could assume. The medics, for not getting there fast enough? Now that was just silly; how could they have known that would happen before it actually happened?

Every suspect, one by one, was exonerated, leaving nobody left. It wasn't even her fault-she wasn't even part of the battle, outside of Foley's participation. But then, was it simply nobody's fault? Was it really something that could be attributed to sheer bad luck, or a whim of circumstance? The thought went against everything she knew, but there were no alternatives.

She didn't want to think about it anymore. What time was it now? Susan pawed at her phone, trying to get a grip on it. When she was finally successful after several feeble attempts, she could barely make out the time against the brightness of the rest of the screen. She was really regretting setting a beauty shot of Mt. Silver as her background photo right now.

It didn't really matter, anyway. She turned the phone off and resumed gazing up at the cot above hers. Occasionally she closed her eyes, hoping that it would trick her body into committing to sleep. It didn't work, though, and for who knew how long she found herself repeatedly opening and closing her eyes, in a vain attempt to doze. At some point it started raining again, harder than before; the crash of the downpour against the Pokémon Center's roof did her no favors in this regard.

Just as she'd finally found a magic combination that was finally about to let her rest, a loud _CRASH_ cut into the room, startling her back to lucidity.

Susan sprang up in her bunk, her heart pounding from the shock as she sat staring at nothing in particular. As far as she could tell, she wasn't the only one startled by the noise; down the corridor, a handful of other trainers were stirring as well. Across from her, even Antoine seemed to have been jostled into a state of near-consciousness.

There was silence save for the rain. Then, another _CRASH_ , louder this time.

There was nothing for it. Susan had to see what the source was. She swiveled her legs out of the bed and planted them on the floor, but for some reason she found herself unable to stand. Why weren't her legs working? She had to go, she had to…

Do what, exactly?

She felt her heart sink. Nothing, it turned out. She could do nothing to affect the situation.

Outside, a great yell went up, followed by a loud, furious cry and an even louder _CRASH_.

This last peal made up her mind. Maybe she couldn't do anything, but she was at least going to see this for herself.

With as much speed as she could muster early in the morning, Susan pulled on a spare set of clothes and grabbed her Hoothoot and Mareep before making for the front door of the Center. She took a look back at the kennel; Basil would have to stay behind this time. With a sharp breath, Susan pushed out into the storm.

The quiet of the Pokémon Center gave way, replaced by the cacophony of the torrent splashing onto the ground. Susan kept underneath the modest awning as she peered out into town, squinting in an attempt to peer between the raindrops. She could see movement not too far off, but no solid forms, be they human or Pokémon. All she knew from this angle was that there was some sort of commotion that had sparked a minor upheaval within the town itself. In other words, nothing she didn't already know.

Without thinking, Susan sprinted out from under the protection of the awning and out into the pouring rain. Within seconds, she realized she'd made a critical error in leaving her raincoat behind, yet she pushed on regardless.

As she drew closer to the main part of town, the picture began to become clearer. A handful of trainers were scurrying about with their Pokémon, as if preparing to fight back against...something. Not far off, Susan saw the cause: a giant, teeming swarm of buglike creatures were currently wreaking a fair amount of havoc, uprooting trees and even damaging buildings with their long, powerful horns.

She ducked behind a nearby house to continue observing the rampaging monstrosities. Now that she got a good look at them, they looked a lot like a Pokémon she'd seen in nature documentaries-"Heracross," she thought they were called. Her thoughts turned back to some of the feats she'd seen them perform: lifting huge trees into the air, withstanding blows that would devastate many other Pokémon, even plowing through solid concrete at full speed. But one thing above all sprung to mind now: Heracross became agitated in rain.

So this was the cause of the uproar, then. Susan watched as the Heracross hustled about, paying little heed to their surroundings. One, in its rain-induced discomfort, ran straight through one side of a wooden house and right out the opposite side, seemingly without breaking stride.

One thing was clear to Susan: she did not need to be here right now.

She was just about to turn back and race for the Pokémon Center when one of the larger Heracross spotted her. With a cry that made her blood run cold (or perhaps that was just the rain), it turned on the spot and charged straight at her, horn lowered.

On instinct, Susan dove out of the way of the rush, landing face-first in the mud as the beast charged right past her. She scrambled for her Poké Balls, her fingers fumbling against the metal of the little spheres. She seized one of them-she wasn't sure which-and rolled back onto her feet. As the Heracross finally slowed its momentum and turned back to face her, she flung the Poke Ball as hard as she could.

The flash of light the ball emitted was just enough to cut through the obscuring rain for a moment. From the ball sprung the Mareep she'd caught yesterday-Gem, she reminded herself.

"Gem, quick!" She wasn't sure if the little sheep could hear her through the rain, but she had to try. "Try to zap it!"

Gem complied with the unorthodox command, as she began to store electrical energy. For such a small creature, Susan noticed she was taking in an awful lot of electricity.

Before them, the Heracross bellowed once more and stalked forward, its bulbous eyes locked onto the Mareep.

Susan gritted her teeth and waited for the bug to close the distance. Just a bit closer...there!

"Now, Gem!"

The Mareep, now at full capacity, unleashed a massive bolt of energy into the Heracross that brightly lit the vicinity, halting its advance and sending it skidding back through the mud. As it struggled back to its feet, Susan saw it twitch, perhaps uncontrollably-Gem's attack had done even more than she'd thought.

She leapt for joy. "That was great, Gem! Now-"

She cut herself short when she saw her Mareep-actually, no, was she still a Mareep? For now, what had been a four-legged beast covered in wool had become a bipedal creature. It still resembled a sheep, but with significantly less wool and a longer tail than before. Susan couldn't believe her eyes. Had Gem just evolved?

Whether she had or not, the Heracross refused to be bested so easily. If anything, it seemed the lightning bolt had just made it angrier. The Heracross leaned back and let loose what could only be described as a war cry. It rushed forward once more, aiming straight for Gem. With a violent flick of its neck, it caught Gem with the shaft of its horn, flinging the newly evolved Pokémon off to the side. Gem crashed into a nearby tree and slid all the way down to the ground. Susan watched as it stirred, trying and failing to get back to its feet, before falling unconscious.

The Heracross, its secondary opposition removed from the fight, now turned its attention back to Susan. In a panic, the girl dug around for her Hoothoot's ball, which had gotten lost in the fray. By the time she found it, though, the Heracross had already come within striking distance. The huge bug roared right in her face, startling her badly enough that Hoothoot's ball slipped from her fingers as she stumbled onto her backside.

The Heracross lowered its horn and prepared to finish off its prey. With nothing left to protect her, Susan raised her hands in a last vain attempt to protect herself. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the beast's attack.

An attack that never came.

A few moments passed, and somehow Susan didn't feel herself being eviscerated. Had she perhaps passed out from the shock before the beast made impact? It would certainly be a lucky break if that were the case. But then why was it still raining?

Against her better judgment, she decided to risk opening her eyes again. When she did, what she saw only confused her more. Not only was she still there, which was miraculous in itself, but now she saw the Heracross just standing in front of her, gazing down at her.

Incredulous, Susan slowly crawled to her feet, hands still raised, as the giant bug continued to stare, seemingly no longer incensed. The fire she'd seen in its eyes was long gone, its ready stance replaced by a more relaxed posture. In behavior it now appeared to be far from the rampaging warrior it had appeared moments ago. For some reason, the beastly fury had given way to a more calm, even curious temperament as it continued to watch its former prey closely.

The rain was beginning to ease off quite a bit now. Susan made sure to lower her hands as slowly and gently as possible, doing her best to avoid making any sudden movements. The Heracross didn't seem to have any reaction. Instead, it took a step closer, so that now it was within reach. It bowed its head ever so slightly, causing its horn to protrude closer to her.

Susan's heart threatened to break free from within her as she watched. This was something Heracross only did with people they trusted. Why was it doing this now, when just seconds ago it had been trying to kill her?

Across from her, the Heracross tilted its head in either confusion or annoyance; she honestly couldn't tell which. She took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm her thoroughly wracked nerves. Then, following after what she'd seen the professionals do before, she reached out her hand and placed it on the shaft of the Heracross' horn, just below its heart-shaped tip.

The Heracross pulled back gently, the ritual having been completed to its satisfaction. It gave her a stern nod to signal its approval. Susan nodded back, more on instinct than anything else; her heart was still racing.

Then, out of nowhere:

"Susan!"

Another flash of bright light made Susan reel backward, causing her to nearly trip over an exposed tree root. When she regained her balance, she looked back to see that the Heracross had vanished; in its place lay a blue-and-red Poke Ball, embedded slightly in the mud.

Susan knelt down to pick up the ball, but was cut off.

"There you are!" Antoine ran up to her, pushing through the pouring rain as though it barely existed. "What in Xerneas' name are you doing out here?"

"I...I wanted to figure out what was causing the disturbance out here!" Susan knew she didn't have a leg to stand on this time, but pushed on. "I couldn't sleep, and then there was this big noise, and-"

"And you nearly got hurt, most importantly! Do you have any idea what those things can do? You're lucky I was able to catch that thing before it got upset."

"Actually…" Susan hesitated. Would he believe her? Probably not, but she had to be honest. "I think I would have been okay."

Antoine, predictably was stunned. "What? What do you mean? What are you even talking about?"

Susan explained what had happened, from the Heracross' initial attack to Gem evolving to its sudden calm. At the end of it all, Antoine seemed no less confused than she was.

"So you're telling me," he said once she'd finished her explanation, "that it just stopped charging you out of nowhere? Just like that?"

Susan nodded. "Just like that."

Her brother stared at the ball in her hands for a moment, pondering something. Then, with a sigh, he shook his head. "Well, the important thing is that you're okay." He pointed to the ball. "Maybe you should keep that thing nearby, just in case. You may be able to keep it in check as we travel."

Susan didn't say anything. She merely looked back down that the Great Ball that contained the Heracross. If she didn't know any better, she'd have found it hard to believe that the capsule was housing something that could level entire buildings.

As she stared at the ball in her hands, though, something caught the corner of her eye-a flutter of bright white, somehow undisturbed by the downpour around them.

She looked over at the flutter to find a lone figure: a man in a purple suit, white cape fluttering in the wind. For the moment, his sapphire eyes were trained on Susan, his expression stoic. The man's umbrella barely bowed against the force of the storm, only adding to the haunting effect of his icy stare.

The two locked eyes for what felt like an eternity. Susan felt the world begin to grow just a little bit colder as his gaze dug into her.

Then, his lips curled into a wry smirk, and her turned and walked away. Susan stared after him, waiting for some sort of reprisal, but none came. She just stood there for a while, watching the man fade into the wet darkness of the early morning…

"Sis? Are you okay?"

Ant's words snapped Susan back into reality. She looked around for a moment, having lost her bearings, before spotting Antoine and relaxing a bit.

"You spaced out for a bit there," her brother continued. "Let's get back inside. You're going to catch a cold standing out here in the rain."

As he said this, Susan finally noticed the downpour again. When had she stopped feeling it? "Yeah," she replied, absent-minded in her confusion.

Antoine nodded, and began to lead her back to the Pokémon Center. She cast one more glance at the spot where the mysterious man had stood, before collecting the still-unconscious Gem and following Antoine.


	10. Chapter 9: Parting Clouds

The group stayed in Azalea for a few more days. There was a lot that had to be taken care of-meeting with Pokémon League officials to confirm Foley's death was an accident, filling out more paperwork, and of course a quiet burial. Susan made sure she stayed out of it as much as she could, partly because it was a little too complex and involved for her liking, and partly because she didn't feel up to it. Ultimately, about three days after they'd arrived, Antoine announced that they would be leaving town the following morning.

That evening, having realized there was only so long she could stare at the cork sheet underneath the bunk above her, Susan took Basil and stepped outside the Pokémon Center and into town for some fresh air. In all of the uproar of the last couple of days, she'd almost forgotten why she'd wanted to go on this journey in the first place. But as she stepped into the cozy town square, it all began to clear up a little bit.

A soft breeze wafted by amidst the glow of the setting sun. Susan took her time strolling down the main street, occasionally earning herself confused and annoyed squeaks from a less relaxed Basil. She could get used to a place like this, she thought to herself. Quiet, somewhat remote, genteel-Azalea had everything she liked in a town. Maybe someday, when she was old enough, she'd move here. That seemed like a good idea. She'd move to Azalea and become a famous writer. Or maybe an artist. People liked artists, right?

A low, dull moan emanating from one of the town's alleyways caught her attention. What could have made a sound like that? She looked both ways (not really necessary, she realized), then crossed to the opposite side of the street to investigate. Basil bounded shortly after her, grateful for some actual movement.

In between a small restaurant and what appeared to be a post office, she soon found her answer. A nearby garbage can rustled a bit as a pink creature crawled out from underneath a pile of trash, moving at a glacial pace. Susan recognized it immediately: a Slowpoke, one of Azalea's claims to infamy, though this one appeared somewhat smaller than average. For some reason, it looked as though it was limping as it continued to walk, its back half still obscured by the heap.

Basil trotted up to the Slowpoke and looked at it, emitting an inquisitive chirp. Susan held her breath, but it didn't seem to notice her Chikorita at first-or at second, for that matter. As the Slowpoke fully uncovered itself from the pile of refuse, Susan spotted the problem: a tin can had wedged itself onto the Slowpoke's back foot. The Pokémon looked at Basil, then back at its impaired limb. It shook its foot once or twice in a half-hearted attempt to free it, then let out another plaintive groan.

"Poor thing," Susan muttered to herself. She carefully approached the Slowpoke (again, as it turned out, an unnecessary precaution). It took a careful hand, but she eventually succeeded in navigating the can off of the Pokémon's leg. A few small cuts along the lower part of the limb marked a handful of previous failed attempts at freedom. As she gingerly lowered the Slowpoke's leg back to the ground, she heard a drawn-out sigh. Or perhaps it was a yawn-she couldn't tell.

"There you go, little Slowpoke." Susan smiled at it as she stood again. "All better."

As if to confirm, the Slowpoke looked back at its leg again, testing it against the earth. When it was satisfied, it maneuvered its head gradually up to look at her, upon which it nodded, growling in appreciation.

Basil, meanwhile, was still curious about the creature. With a few sniffs and a chirp, he was able to get the creature's attention. With the Pokémon looking right at him, Basil swung its leaf around and tapped the Slowpoke with it, right on its nose.

The Slowpoke seemed characteristically unmoved at first. Eventually, though, it opened its mouth, to Susan and Basil's confusion. When Basil peered inside, however…

 _FWOOSH._

A jet of water squirted out, straight into the Chikorita's face. Basil, understandably shocked, backpedaled in the face of the stream, letting out a startled screech that was mostly obscured by the water. The spout eventually weakened to a halt, leaving Basil thoroughly drenched. The Slowpoke let out a low, staccato groan that sounded almost like laughter. Under the circumstances, Susan couldn't help but giggle herself.

"I think he got you that time, Basil." She bent down to be closer to the Slowpoke's eye level as her Chikorita replied with a snort of betrayal.

Susan examined the Slowpoke for a moment. "You're funny, you know that?" she asked the pink creature, to no reply. She pulled out a new Poké Ball; she'd made sure to pick up a few spares yesterday with her own money in case Antoine needed any, but he surely wouldn't miss one of them. As there was no point tossing a ball at a target so close to her, she instead merely bent down and tapped the ball to the Slowpoke's head. With a flash of light, into the ball it went; then, a moment later, Susan sent the Slowpoke back out again, before it could even register what had happened.

She grinned at the Pokémon in front of her. "I think I'm going to call you Joker. How does that sound?"

After the requisite delay, the Slowpoke looked up at her again, then nodded.

"Great! Then it's settled." She stood once more. "Now we can-"

"Excuse me, miss, is everything all right?"

Susan turned around to explain that everything was under control. Before she could, however, she was struck by the appearance of the questioner: a teenage boy with brown hair and a matching bomber jacket. What really sparked her memory, though, was the necklace with the red ornament hanging from it. It didn't take long for her to recognize him as the boy she'd run into in Cherrygrove a few days ago.

It seemed the boy recognized her as well, because the moment she turned around, she saw his eyes widen a bit. He took a small step back, then thought better of it and resumed his position. She thought about saying something, but was beaten to the punch.

"Oh, um...sorry to bother you, but I feel like we've met somewhere before." Whatever surprise he'd felt seemed to be gone as quickly as it had come. "Weren't you in Cherrygrove the other day?"

Susan wasn't sure whether to be honest or pretend otherwise. Before she could think up a convincing lie, she found herself nodding. "I don't think so," she said, in an effort to counteract her natural inclination.

The boy raised an eyebrow. "You're saying no, but you're also nodding. Which is it?"

"I mean...maybe?" Her defenses were all the way up; could she even trust this guy enough to be fully honest? "I really don't remember."

"That's weird. I could have sworn…" He examined her for a bit, before shaking his head. "Oh well. Probably just my imagination." He grinned. "Anyway, for what it's worth, my name's Enzo-Enzo Vampata. And you?"

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out: "Susan Derrick."

"Nice to meet you, Susan." He leaned against the side of the alley, nonchalant. "So what brings you here to beautiful Azalea?"

At this point, Susan figured that if she'd been honest so far, she may as well go all in. "Well, I'm traveling with my brother. He's in the League program, so he's traveling across Johto to learn more about the region and get better as a Pokémon trainer. He started out a few days ago."

"Oh, cool. Sounds like fun." Enzo said this in a way that sounded to Susan as though he wanted to sound like he didn't actually think it was all that fun, and was just trying to be polite, but deep down was actually quite interested. "I've done a bit of exploring myself. In fact, I'm headed up to Goldenrod tomorrow morning."

"Oh, really? So are we." Why was she sharing all of this information? She didn't even know this person, yet here she was spilling everything to him anyway. What if he was some sort of-

"Nice. Maybe we could meet up first thing tomorrow, then? It'd be great to meet your brother too." Susan noticed his eyes light up a bit. "I always like talking with other traveling trainers, and it definitely sounds like you've had an interesting time of it so far."

"Well, uh…I…" Of course _now_ was the time for her to lose her train of thought. "I guess? I mean...I'd have to make sure Antoine's okay with it, but…"

"Fair enough." Enzo pushed off the wall to stand upright again. "He's the one calling the shots." He grinned again. "Either way, I'm probably headed out of here around eight or so. Maybe I'll see you then!" With a wave, he turned and left Susan to her own thoughts.

She stood there for a bit, only just now realizing what she'd agreed to. First the running away, now agreeing to meet up with complete strangers-what had made her so reckless, these last few days? Could a simple dream really account for all of this, or was she starting to lose her mind over nothing?

A nudge at her ankle cut her off. Susan looked down to see Basil trying to hide behind her legs as the Slowpoke ambled toward him. He peeked out at the pink creature, a tentative squeak the only sound he seemed willing to make.

Susan put aside her own worries for the moment. Right now, it was time to properly acquaint Basil with his new ally.

* * *

That night, as soon as she lay down, Susan felt herself drift into sleep far more easily than usual. All of the stress and anguish of the last few days, having built up inside her and at times verged on leaking, now seemed all at once to melt away...

 _The void consumes her once more, and this time she knows what comes next._

 _The humidity of the night gives way to the pleasant warmth of a glowing fire. In the distance, a bright light, tinged in red and gold._

 _Willing herself forward, she floats toward the beacon. Her senses betray nothing but the tender heat of the emptiness surrounding her._

 _The light begins to grow. Is it moving toward her? She presses forward, briefly forgetting how to breathe._

 _The darkness gives way to the sun, and suddenly it's almost too bright. She shields her eyes from its brilliance as it envelops her._

 _Then, the brightest light fades, though the void around her is brightly illuminated. Her heart leaps; what's happening now? She chances to lower her hands and open her eyes._

 _Before her float the two silhouettes from before. Though they seem close enough to touch, the brilliance of the light behind them obscures their features from her view._

 _She's speechless. What is the meaning of this? And are these the people she thinks they are?_

 _One of the figures speaks, in a booming voice:_

"Hello, Susan."

 _They know her name! But then...who are they?_

 _The other takes their turn, in a softer tone:_

"We've been looking for you for so long."

 _They both sound very familiar to her, in an eerie way she can't quite place. She knows them, somehow, but she can't who they are. Right now she's too excited and afraid to ask any questions._

"You've got quite a way to go yet," _the first one says._ "And you're still not ready. But take heart. We will be reunited eventually."

 _Dumbstruck, she nods, her tongue still having fled her._

"You look so different from when we last saw you." _The second figure chuckles._ "You've grown quite a bit since then. We can't wait to see you again."

 _She can just barely make out a smile on the face of the first figure._ "You must meet with us in Ecruteak. The towers there hold great importance to the people of this land. When we are all gathered there, we will be whole again."

 _Ecruteak? But that's-_

"Don't fret, Susan," _the second one interjects, as though reading her thoughts._ "The road before you is long and winding. But we will help you as best we can along the way."

 _Before she can say anything, even a garbled word of thanks, the first one cuts in one last time:_

"We must go now. You can do this. Never forget how strong you really are."

 _She can't react fast enough before the figures begin to draw back, fading from her view. With them retreats the warm daylight as the cold of the dark reasserts itself. She wills herself forward as fast as she can, but she's too late. The night has taken hold once more…_

There was no start this time, no sudden moment of awakening. Susan simply felt her eyes open as the world reassembled itself around her. She propped herself up with one arm and reached out to grab her phone, her hand still shaking from either fear or excitement. She checked the clock: it was a little after 6 a.m. the next morning.

With a sigh, she put her phone back down and lay on her pillow again. It was too early for her to fully awaken, but by the time she dozed off again it would be time to leave anyway. Thus, all she could feasibly do at this point was lay here and wait for time to pass.

Though she wasn't sure how one dream had seemingly taken up her entire night, Susan couldn't help but feel those butterflies again.

* * *

As expected, Antoine wasn't entirely keen on adding yet another member to the group-though Enzo's assurances that he was only going as far as Goldenrod certainly seemed to help in this regard. Still, despite his protests, he was outvoted once again, and Enzo temporarily joined them as they plunged into the thick forest that separated Azalea and Goldenrod.

Tiny streams of morning light peeked through the dense leaf cover as they made their way along the barely worn path. The last drops of dew soaked through Susan's sneakers as she followed behind the others, making sure their Pokémon played nice outside their balls (Kylian had already tried to bite Basil's leaf off again, and Goji seemed to be content with throwing pebbles at the other two when they weren't looking). In between stints pulling the three of them apart in various combinations, she took the time to glance around the forest. It seemed like the sort of place one could easily get lost in-exactly the kind of place she would want to be able to explore on her own. Alas, with her brother in charge, there would be no such opportunity.

"We've got to keep moving," Antoine was saying at the moment. "We spent a lot more time than we planned in Azalea, which means we're behind schedule."

"Whoa, hey, who's this 'we' you're talking about?" Penny flicked a small twig at the back of his head. "You're the only one on a timetable here. I'm just along for the ride."

"Which is another problem, come to think of it. I thought you'd have jumped at the chance to lead us through the forest. Do you not know how to get us through here?"

Penny folded her arms. "Oh, please. Of course I know how to get through this forest. We just have to go...uh...let's see…" She scanned through the trees in a manner that Susan could tell was more of a bluff than anything, before pointing in more or less the direction they were traveling. "That way. Ish."

"'Ish?' Are you serious?" Antoine rubbed his forehead. "You mean you don't know for sure?"

"Hey, cut me some slack. Forests are nothing like cities. In the city, you've got buildings and landmarks that you can use to figure out where you are. All we've got here are trees. And bushes. And more trees."

Antoine's only response was a muffled groan as he buried his face in his hands out of exasperation.

"No worries, everyone." Enzo had picked the ideal time to chime in. "My Pokémon and I navigate this forest all the time. I know where we're headed."

"Well, that makes one of us." Ant took a deep breath. "If we don't get back on schedule soon, we're just wasting time."

"Come to think of it, what do you mean by 'schedule?'" Enzo asked, scratching his head. "You have some sort of deadline for this trip of yours?"

"Sort of. Well, not really. I technically just have to accumulate eight badges by the end of the summer, and after that it's pretty much up to me where I go from there."

"And then what?"

Ant shrugged. "I don't know yet. I'm hoping this journey will inspire me to go do something I wouldn't have otherwise."

"Like what?"

"I said I don't know."

"You could work for a soccer team here," Susan piped up. "There's a lot of pro soccer teams in Johto. Maybe you could work as a scout or something?"

"Maybe, but probably not. The football here is nowhere near as good as it is overseas. The Johtoan league is decent enough, but it pales in comparison to those of Unova or Sinnoh, and it's even farther in quality from Kalos or Hoenn." He shook his head. "If I wanted to work for a football club, I'd sooner move back to Kalos."

"You could have just said 'no' and left it alone."

"Well, I thought you'd like the chance to know a bit more about football." He shot back a playful smirk. "You're always bugging me about how it's so hard to understand, so I'm trying to fill you in wherever I can."

"The only thing you told me just now is that you're a snob," Susan fired back with a cheeky grin of her own.

"Touché."

"So let me see if I've got this figured out," Enzo said, reasserting his place in the conversation. "You're trying to hurry through this thing that's been set out for you, just so that you can get to the end of it faster, so you'll be free to do whatever you want. But you also want to learn from the journey and be inspired by it. Is that right?"

"I guess so, yes." Antoine ducked under a low-hanging tree branch before continuing. "That's pretty much what I was saying."

"But how can you do that if you're just rushing through it all? That's like running through the forest with your eyes on the ground, isn't it?" Enzo sounded almost breathless. "I'd have thought you'd want to take your time to savor this. It's a rare opportunity, so why not just take it as it comes?"

Ant thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, see, I'm trying to get to the end of the journey so that I can figure all of that out on my own. That way I can find out for myself-"

"Then where are you getting the inspiration from? The journey itself, or what comes after it?"

Antoine's patience was visibly beginning to fray. "Look, I already told you-"

A squeak caught Susan's attention. She looked down to see Basil staring off into the distance, standing stone still.

"What is it, Basil?" She walked over and knelt next to the Grass-type. The Chikorita didn't even look at her at first; he simply continued to stare off at nothing in particular.

Susan was just about to write this off as one of Basil's occasional stubborn episodes when she finally saw what was actually happening. As she watched, his leaf began to stand straighter on his head, almost like a radar, until it was fully upright. Then, with a gentle nod of his head, he began to swirl the leaf around in the morning air, almost as though stirring it around him, his eyes tightly shut as he focused on whatever he was trying to sense.

Despite Susan's confusion, she said nothing, and this continued for a few moments. Then, just as she was about to call back to Antoine, she saw Basil's eyes pop open. Like a shot, he leapt into action, taking off into a sprint with far more energy than he usually exhibited at this time of day.

After a hesitant glance back that the unwary group, Susan split from the others to chase down her Chikorita. What could possibly have gotten him so worked up?

It took quite a bit of doing, but soon she was able to catch up with Basil. The small beast led her a fair distance off the beaten path, weaving through the relatively thick undergrowth. Before too long, they came to what seemed to be a thick curtain of vines, hanging down from the bough of one of the taller trees. Upon reaching it, Basil slowed to a halt and sat on his hind legs, squeaking and chirping at the partition.

"What's wrong? What is it about this ivy?" Susan reached out to touch it. The vines gave way as she pressed against them. A little confused, she grabbed a few of the strands and pulled them to one side. To her surprise, they folded away like a curtain, revealing a small clearing on the other side.

At this point, Susan knew she'd never be satisfied until she saw what was on the other end of it. But it turned out that she wasn't quite prepared for what she saw when she ducked under the vines and into the clearing beyond.

Within the clearing sat a horde of metal cages, standing in stark contrast to their natural surroundings. Each of them seemed large enough to carry a human. The dotted light, elsewhere adding to the atmosphere of the woodland scenery, here glinted off the iron paraphernalia with a haunting, if dormant, menace. A large trailer lay off to one side, its back hatch open to reveal more cages spilling out of it;

Once she got over her initial shock, Susan took a moment to notice that most of the cages were empty, doors swinging wide open and locks shredded. Some, though, still seemed to be intact.

In the corner of her eye, something moved inside one of the cages just as she passed by it. Stifling a gasp, she crept closer to the bars and peered inside. At the far corner, facing away from her, sat a large insect-like creature covered in a bright blue exoskeleton. The sight immediately jogged her memory: it was a Heracross, much like the swarm that had stormed Azalea a few days ago. And as she looked, many of the other cages also contained Heracross of their own.

Susan could barely believe her eyes. Who could have done something like this? The sight of all these Pokémon locked up in some sort of metal prison for no obvious reason made her stomach turn. As she stared at the Heracross, she could only imagine what the poor thing was thinking right now. She had to help somehow.

But when she turned back to get the others, she heard a loud SNAP from under her feet. She flinched at the sound, a chill tingling her spine. When she looked down, she found the source: a large twig she hadn't noticed, yet had cleanly snapped with one step.

Before she could process this, a low hum behind her caught her attention. She turned back to the cage to see the Heracross, just a moment ago dormant, now glared at her with a fury in its eyes from behind the bars.

She could only watch as the giant insect took a small step back, then charged at the cage's door. The lock shattered on impact as the door swung open with a loud CLANG. The Heracross stepped out of its cage, glared straight into Susan's eyes, then reared back and let loose a deafening war cry.

Across the clearing, the other Heracross also roused from their despondency, many of whom also broke free of their restraints and climbed free of their cells. Susan now faced at least half a dozen of the beasts bearing down upon her.

In a panic, Susan flung every one of her Poké Balls in front of her. Psy, Gem, Joker and Roxi sprang into view, readying themselves for action; Basil, as if not wanting to miss out, hopped up alongside them with a defiant growl.

Before she could even utter a command, her team set to work. Roxi, being a Heracross herself, immediately set her gaze on her counterpart in front of them. With a motion of her horn, Roxi let out a short sequence of growls, to which the other Heracross responded in kind. The two then moved elsewhere in the clearing and began to circle one another, a signal that Susan recognized from one of her favorite nature documentaries as an invitation to ritual combat. (It was starting to dawn on Susan that she might be guilty of watching far too much television.)

Meanwhile, Psy hopped several feet in the air, landing directly onto one of the flanking insect beasts. Once perched, the Hoothoot proceeded to unleash a barrage of pecks into the bug's eyes, ignoring its screeches of pain as it hammered away. At last, the Heracross finally wised up to the tactic, and batted the small bird to the side. Psy rolled on his side for a few meters before coming to rest a fair distance away, upon which he hopped back to his feet and skipped over to renew its attack. More enraged than injured, the Heracross barreled forward shoulder-first, plowing into the tiny bird and sending it skyward.

Just as Susan was about to call out to her Hoothoot, the little owl's momentum through the air came to a sudden halt, as he steadied himself in midair. Psy's eyes glowed bright white, illuminating the shadowy clearing with a great surge of energy. With no rain to obscure her view, Susan watched as a sudden, drastic transformation took place in front of her.

All at once, Psy's entire body began to morph into a new form. His eyes shrank, losing their red color. Meanwhile, his body began to grow taller and thicker, sprouting a sort of triangle pattern. His wings, no longer stubby, now stretched several feet across, majestic feathers sprouting from the new appendages. Most notably, his crest, once stubby and black, now lengthened into a tall, cream-colored plumage that waved in the morning breeze.

The light soon faded, and Psy wasted no time taking advantage of his new form. He pulled his new wings into his body and dropped into a nosedive. At the last moment before he hit the ground, the owl extended them again, leveling off into a diving tackle as he smashed into the Heracross with the joint of his wing. The impact was more than enough to send the Heracross tumbling away.

She glanced over to another part of the clearing, where Gem was fending off a pair of assailants. One of them took a swing at her, forcing her to jump backwards to evade. Upon landing, the Flaaffy dropped to all fours and launched herself at the Heracross, catching it off guard. As this happened, the second Heracross, having held back thus far, now dove into the fray, delivering a sharp jab to Gem's side that tossed her back into the air.

Gem tumbled to a stop before crawling to her hind legs. The two Heracross ran toward her, looking to double-team their foe.

Susan didn't give them the chance. "Zap 'em, Gem!" she called out, trying to remember the names of Electric attacks her Mareep might know. "Uh...Thundershock!"

This seemed to be the keyword she'd been looking for. Not even a moment after the word had left her mouth, she saw Gem's tail spark with energy. Then, in a single instant, the Flaaffy cried out, releasing its stored charge in the form of a pair of lightning bolts, each aimed at one of the two Heracross. The insects skidded backward several feet from the impact as a deafening POP filled the clearing, vanishing as quickly as it came. The Heracross, dazed from the electrical assault, seemed to refrain from reprisal, instead keeping their distance.

Susan turned her attention back to Joker, who was currently...well, doing nothing, as she probably should have guessed. She sighed, her moment of confidence short-lived. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to rely on a Slowpoke when reaction time was of great importance.

Off in the distance, Roxi and her opponent were well into the throes of combat. The enemy Heracross tried to grapple Roxi, which the latter countered into what turned out to be a rather slick-looking takedown. Before her foe could climb to its feet, she hopped back, lowered her horn and thrusted forward, scooping underneath the downed Heracross.

In one violent upward thrust, Roxi launched her foe tumbling several feet straight up into the air. It flew up toward the treetops, hung in the air for a moment, then fell back to earth with a _crunch_.

Susan was so busy watching all of this happen that she barely registered the Heracross charging straight for her. It was nearly upon her by the time she turned to see it.

She didn't even think to hold out her arms this time. There was no chance to react. In an instant, she regretted everything.

But then, at the exact moment before impact…

 _CLANG._

Out of nowhere, amid a ball of light, sprang a wide pink barrier, into which the Heracross had just crashed at nearly full speed. It staggered, more confused and angry than hurt, before trying again. Once more, it failed to pass through the barrier.

Stunned, Susan took a moment to try to determine its source. She mentally counted off all the Pokémon she owned. It definitely wasn't Roxi or Gem, and it probably wasn't Psy pr Joker; the former was still gloating at his victory over to one side, and the latter had done nothing at all since he'd appeared. But then that just left…

"Basil!" She turned back to face her Chikorita. "I didn't know you could-"

She never finished her sentence, perhaps because her jaw had dropped. Behind her was Basil, yes, but he certainly looked like a rather different creature altogether: a yellowish-green sauropod, taller and lankier than before-though no less pudgy, come to think of it. His head leaf had lengthened greatly, and a set of what seemed to be sacs of some kind ringed around his neck.

At the present moment, he was focusing all his newfound energy on propping up the barrier between her and the Heracross, which, Susan now noticed, was starting to show signs of wear as the Heracross pounded on it.

Sensing weakness, another nearby Heracross, having been driven back earlier, now returned to the fray, joining its comrade in attacking the psychic barrier. This new assault further impacted the wall, to the point where Basil was now actively straining to maintain his focus on it. A crack in the obstruction began to show as a web of fractures weaved wider across across the wall with each blocked attack. It looked like it could give at any moment.

Just then, a streak of what looked like flame shot in across the clearing. Susan watched as a new combatant darted to and fro, confusing her and the giant insects, before zipping around the reflective wall and colliding headfirst with one of the bugs. The force of the impact sent it flying, launching it back into the treeline and out of sight. Before the other could react, the flaming beast circled back around, then leapt onto a low-hanging tree branch, whereupon it released a jet of pure flame straight into the second bug's face.

The streak leapt down from the tree and landed in front of Susan, who, now that she got a proper look at it, recognized the animal as a Flareon. But it didn't look like one of Antoine's Pokémon, and it certainly didn't seem like something Penny would own. So what was it doing here?

Before she could process this, a more familiar creature arrived, blasting in on a jet of pressurized water. It looked at first to be Kylian, as it certainly seemed to be a bipedal blue reptilian figure on first glance. When she looked closer, though, she saw that much like Basil, Kylian had undergone quite a massive shift in appearance. In addition to growing larger and slightly bulkier, he now sported a set of red, spiky fins sprouting from his head, and his chest was now colored in a cream-colored design of some sort. The beast landed near the Flareon and grinned, showing off a row of razor-sharp teeth.

"There you are!"

Susan turned to see Antoine and Enzo running up to her. "We heard some sort of noise and came running over as fast as we could," the latter explained as he walked by her. He knelt in front of the Flareon and stroked the tuft of hair on its forehead, causing it to let out a soft purring sound. "Or, well, Forge here heard it, anyway. We just sort of chased after him."

Antoine surveyed the scene in silence as Enzo continued. "When we noticed you'd disappeared, we immediately split up to search for you. Antoine and I went this direction, and Penny took the other way. She'll probably still be looking, so we should head back where we were." He smiled a little. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to run off on your own?"

"Sorry about that," Susan offered, walking up to her Bayleef. "Basil just sensed something and went after it, and I don't have a ball for him, so…" She dug into her bag's berry pocket and pulled out a Mago berry, which she held out to him. Basil sniffed at it for a moment, then, swinging his head forward, missed biting it completely. Confused, he drew back, then tried a second time, missing to the other side. He obviously hadn't yet gotten used to having a neck.

"And I'm guessing this is Basil, then?" Enzo inspected the Bayleef. "But I thought he was smaller this morning?"

"Oh, uh...well, in all of the confusion, I guess he evolved." Susan gave up and moved her hand closer to Basil's mouth, allowing him to take the berry with minimal effort. "Psy too," she added, pointing up at her new Noctowl, who had roosted in a nearby tree and was peering down on them from above.

"Great! That's three today now. Antoine said his Pokémon over there did it this morning." He pointed to the Croconaw, who was currently showing off his new teeth to anyone who would pay attention (mostly an unimpressed Basil).

"What happened here?" Antoine finally spoke up. He examined one of the cages. "Who would need so many cages when Poké Balls exist?"

Enzo's smile faded. "No telling. But it looks like all these Heracross were involved somehow…" He thought for a moment. "Maybe someone wanted to catch a bunch of them, but didn't want to use Poké Balls. A collector, maybe?"

"But what kind of collector locks their Pokémon up in steel cages?" Antoine crossed his arms. "This feels more than a little suspicious."

Susan looked back at the cages and the downed Heracross. Something stirred inside her as she contemplated the situation. "And it was raining the other day, too," she said. "If these Heracross were trapped inside these cages in the rain, then...that had to have been terrible for them."

Enzo nodded. "That's true. Whoever was doing this didn't seem to care enough to at least cover them."

"Yeah…" Susan knelt next to one of the Heracross her Pokémon had defeated. It was still more or less out cold. She patted the insect on its chest.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I hope you can forgive me for that."

She heard Antoine shift his weight behind her. "At any rate, it's probably over our heads at this point," her brother said. "Whoever did this is long gone. And besides, the Azalea police will probably have it under control."

"Maybe," Enzo chimed in again. "I'll have one of my Pokémon take them a note just in case."

Susan turned to see Enzo calling out another of his Pokémon-a large purple bat, with four wings that came to an X shape. Enzo pulled a notepad out of his bag and jotted something down, then tore out the top page and gave it to his Pokémon.

"Take this to the Azalea police," he said to the Crobat, who nodded. With a flap of its wings, the bat pushed off into the sky, before gliding off through the morning air in the direction of the town.

"Ashe should get it there in no time," he explained to Ant and Susan. "She'll catch up with us once she's delivered the note, so we can go on ahead if we need to."

Antoine nodded. "Right. In that case, let's go find Penny and get back on track."

And with that, the three turned to leave the clearing. As she went to step through the threshold with Basil, Susan cast one last glance at the scene-the cages, the trailer, the Heracross. A pang of concern cropped up as she tried to justify it in her mind. Eventually, unable to make sense of it, she shook her head and followed the other two, turning the image over in her mind as they pressed on.


	11. Chapter 10: El Dorado

With some difficulty, the party at last managed to navigate what remained of Ilex Forest.

Bit by bit, the trees began to scatter and vanish, and soon the leafy canopy gave way to the cloudy blue sky above. The dirt road stretched before them, weaving slightly to either side, gradually thickening and greying until it had turned into asphalt. Just at the edge of their field of vision, buildings began to sprout from the earth like giant steel flowers. An arbitrary line cut across the earth where the natural beauty of the world froze in its tracks, giving way to an industrial pallor that nevertheless inspired awe in its own way.

Before them lay Goldenrod, the crown jewel of Johto.

Susan let the enormity of the city wash over her like a glittering golden wave. It was even bigger and more incredible than she'd imagined. The biggest city in the region, one of the biggest cities in the world...and here she was, within walking distance of it. Every regret she had took a backseat in this one moment.

"It's not _that_ big a deal."

Susan turned back to see Penny pretending to yawn. "Seen one metropolis, you've seen them all. Just because it's bigger doesn't mean it's better."

"I don't think that's true," Enzo chimed in. "It's plenty impressive, regardless of its size."

"And just think what it would be like to live here," Susan added, letting herself get swept away for a moment. "Living in a high-rise apartment, just a short walk away from anything you could ever want, with so many new opportunities…"

"...And all for the low monthly cost of your entire life savings and the constant threat of being mugged or worse. What a bargain." Penny hoisted Goji up onto her shoulder. "Trust me, it's not worth it."

"But…"

"I don't care how well off you are. You stay in a city like this any amount of time, you have to be on your guard at all times." She and Goji folded their arms at the same time, in a rare display of smugness. "The only reason I've made it on my own as long as I have is because I always know what's happening around me. Nothing catches me off guard anym-"

It was at this exact moment that a streak of bright white swooped in from above, crashing headlong into Penny's ribcage and sending trainer and Larvitar alike flying to the side.

Susan and Enzo dashed over to Penny, with Basil trotting up behind at a slower pace. "Are you okay?" Enzo asked, kneeling next to the downed girl. When, Penny responded with a semi-conscious groan, he looked over at Susan instead. "What was that, anyway?"

Before she could say that she didn't know, Susan caught a glimpse of whatever it was amid the settling dust, not far off. The small, whitish figure became clearer as she approached it: it looked almost like a Pokémon.

She knelt next to the avian creature, which had barely moved since the collison. It seemed to be just as dazed as Penny was. She glanced over its white body for any obvious injuries caused by the fall; while she didn't find anything, she did spot a curious set of red and blue markings along its lower body. The pattern instantly reminded her of... _something._ She'd seen them before, but where?

"Ant, come take a look at this."

As Antoine joined her alongside the Pokémon, she pointed out the markings to him. "Those markings...they look familiar."

Her brother gave the creature his own inspection. "Doesn't seem to be hurt too badly," he said at last. "Just knocked for a loop." He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the poor beast, which he then loaded into the Pokedex app. After a brief loading period, the app spat out the result: something called a "Togetic."

"A Togetic, huh?" He tucked his phone away. "You don't see that every day."

"Oh...wait a minute, I remember now!" Everything came flooding back to Susan in that moment. "That's what Togepi is supposed to evolve into, right? There's that kids' show that's always on on the weekends that has a Togepi in it, I think…"

"You mean _Togepi's Treehouse?_ You actually watch that?"

"Of course not. I only know about it because of all the commercials they run for it. You can't escape it."

"Yeah, it's a dumb show. I don't know why it's been on as long as it has." Antoine stood. "Anyway, we should-"

"-Get this thing to a Pokémon Center?" Susan interrupted. "Definitely. Get me something to wrap him in."

"Wait, no, I meant-"

"Come on, Ant. This little guy's shaken up pretty bad. Who knows what'll happen if we don't get him some proper medical attention soon. He could-"

"Oh, don't mind me," they heard a weary voice call over. They looked over to see Penny, having recovered from the initial shock, lying on the ground in a distinctly melodramatic fashion as Enzo applied an ice pack to the impact site. Basil stood over her, sniffing furiously at her. "Just lying here with three broken ribs, that's all. Pay no attention to the dying girl."

Enzo, for his part, sighed. "For the last time, nothing's broken. At least, I don't think it is. You're just milking it at this point."

"Screw you."

Susan failed to hold back a giggle as she turned back to Antoine. "Well? Let's hurry already."

"But I don't have anything to-"

"I can take him on ahead, actually." Enzo was already taking off his bomber jacket. "As long as you make sure Miss Munchausen here" ("I heard that!" Penny shouted) "doesn't make too much of a fuss, that is."

"Of course." Susan stepped back to give the young man room. Within moments, the barely conscious Togetic had been safely nestled in the leather coat, and Enzo made his way into town ahead of them.

"By the way, thanks for checking on me so quickly." Penny had miraculously regained her feet and had rejoined them, though still holding her side. "You guys are true friends."

"Anytime." Antoine didn't seem to catch the sarcasm. "Let's just hope that thing isn't too badly hurt. Togetic are rare enough as it is."

"He _is_ kind of cute, though. He looked like a little sleeping angel…" A lightbulb went off in Susan's head. "We'll call him Gabriel!"

"Will you please stop naming every single Pokémon we come across?"

* * *

With Enzo surely at the Pokémon center by now, the trio made their way into the city themselves. As majestic as it had looked from afar, though, actually stepping into the city proper was enough to blow Susan's mind. The late morning sun peeked over the eastern skyline, the shadows of morning retreating as they watched the glow of light on metal take over. All along the sidewalks, dozens-probably even hundreds-of people passed to and fro, stepping in and out of the many storefronts and offices that lined the major streets. Hundreds of stories, each writing a new chapter even now, all played themselves out as the group strolled about the metropolis in awe.

The thing that most captivated Susan, however, was the scent of a salty breeze blowing in from the west. She turned and found a great expanse of blue, wider and perhaps deeper than she'd ever seen-the Goldenrod Bay. She'd never seen anything like it.

Breaking away from the others, Susan sprinted over to the nearest railing to get a better view of the bay. With some difficulty, she managed to squeeze her way past the small crowd of other tourists to get a decent look out at the water.

When she got there, what caught her eye was something unusual: a small collection of islands sat out near the middle of the bay, obscured by rushing water on all sides. Most curious, though, was the collection of steel-colored storm clouds that hung over these bizarre islands. It was almost as though the islands were perpetually under threat of the most devastating thunderstorm in history. Yet as far as she could tell, it wasn't actually raining-not yet, anyway.

"...Clouds have been gathering for days now," she now overheard someone nearby mention. "Think it'll pass soon?"

"No clue," someone else replied. "As long as it doesn't show up here, I'm fine."

"I hear that," a third person chimed in. "We're overdue for a big storm anyhow. And any clouds that come in over those islands are bad news."

"Hey," the first person came back, "think it's Lugia?"

That got a laugh from a few of the assembled people. Susan paid them no mind; she wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about, in any case. Lugia hadn't been seen in years-everyone knew that.

She leaned over the railing just a bit, trying to make out other landmarks in the distance. All the way out to the west, nearly a speck on the horizon, sat a lonely lump of land that she figured had to be Shinchu Cape; if it was, then all those little buildings along the shore had to be Cianwood. Wasn't that where that "Safari Zone" was opening up? She made a mental note to check on that later.

And there, to the north, was Olivine, where their Aunt Carol lived. Her heart sank a little as she looked out at the port town, the boats lining the docks all bobbing up and down with the waves as the city's signature lighthouse kept watch. They weren't far from where Antoine had said he'd drop her off. Her journey had barely gotten started, and it was already this close to ending. And she hadn't even seen everything she wanted to see yet. If only she'd had more time…

"Little girl! You there, little girl!"

Susan didn't immediately register the raspy voice, or that it was calling out to her. When she did, she turned to see a rather crusty-looking old man sitting on an outstretched newspaper.

"Watch it, will yeh? Yeh're scaring the pigeons away, yeh little bint!"

"S-sorry," she stammered out.

"Sorry ain't good enough! Now get yer ass outta here before I hafta kick it!"

She didn't need to be told twice. Susan abandoned her viewing platform and scurried away, not entirely sure where she was supposed to be going.

It took a few minutes of blindly wandering up and down several adjoining streets before Susan could process her situation. Where were the others? And why had she just randomly run off again? She really had to stop doing that. That had been so stupid, what was she thinking?

Susan fought her instinct to freeze up. Passersby gave her confused glances as they walked past her, all while she struggled internally to find her bearings. Everything began to meld together, all the lights and sounds drowning out her thoughts.

Before she could stabilize herself, she felt a rough yank on her elbow, followed by the ground sliding out from beneath her feet. A voice called to her:

"You know, if you're trying to run away, you're going to have to do better than this."

A shot of panic coursed through Susan. She broke free from the offender's grip, then whirled around, ready to defend herself-

"Jeez, relax!" Penny held her hands out toward her to calm her down. "It's just an observation."

"Sorry." Susan took a deep breath in an attempt to relax. "I guess I'm not used to the big city yet."

"Yeah, living in a big place like this is a lot different to small-town life, for sure." "What say we walk for a bit? I've had some stuff I've been meaning to talk about."

"Uh...sure."

Penny gestured to Susan to follow her. After a few turns to get back on course, they found themselves walking back toward the city center.

"So why'd you run away, anyway?" Penny had taken the lead and was calling over her shoulder. Goji had decided to take temporary residence in Susan's bag, slowing her down slightly with the extra weight. "You don't seem like the delinquent type."

"I...well…" Susan hesitated-the story made sense to her, but it sounded ludicrous. Surely Penny wouldn't believe it. "So...I had a dream, right?" she began. "And...it basically told me to...to find my parents. Somewhere." She rubbed her forehead. "I think that was the idea, anyway. And then Antoine left, and...I don't know beyond that. I guess I just felt like I sort of...well, had to. I guess."

Penny was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "So what you're saying is, you aren't even sure why you did this?"

"No! I mean...well, I had the dream, but-"

"And you ran away because something in your dreams told you to?"

"Well, it felt like it was more than a dream, but…basically?"

The older girl sighed. "So it wasn't because you had some problem with your family, or because you wanted to go out in some blaze of rebellious glory. You just wanted to find the people who gave you up."

"H-hey!" Susan felt her cheeks begin to glow a little. "They didn't give me up! There had to be a reason I was adopted, right?"

"Wait, sorry, that didn't come out how I wanted it to. I meant-ugh, never mind." Penny rubbed her forehead. "Regardless. If you're happy with your family, why even bother looking for your birth parents? Why weren't you just happy with what you had?"

"I...I guess I just had to know." Susan felt a lump in her chest as she spoke. "I love Mom and Dad, and they and Antoine are the only family I've ever known, but...I just have to find out for myself."

"So it's sort of a self-discovery sort of thing, right?" Penny thought about this for a moment, before ultimately nodding. "I guess that's fair. That's sort of what it was like for me too."

"Wait, you ran away from home too?"

"Yep. Not much younger than you when I did it, actually. Just grabbed Goji one night and snuck out my bedroom window, and that was that." She looked off toward the horizon. "God, that takes me back…"

"But why did you do that?"

Penny shrugged. "Dunno now. Probably made sense to me at the time, but whatever it was, it was a load of B.S." She shook her head. "But by the time I realized how screwed I was, it was too late. Pretty sure I've burned too many bridges to ever be able to come back, so I just learned to make do without most of what I used to have."

"But if they're family, they'd take you back, right?" Susan asked without thinking. "That's what family's for."

Penny let out an amused chuckle. "You're making a lot of assumptions about my family." She thought for a moment, then sighed. "I dunno. Maybe one day I'll be able to stop in again without them wanting to kill me." Penny looked out into space again. "That's probably a long way off, though..."

Susan let Penny contemplate...well, whatever it was she was contemplating for a moment. Eventually, the latter snapped back to reality, just in time to finish her thought. "Anyway, my point is, you've got a good thing going. You've got a brother who gives a crap about you, you've got at least one set of parents-maybe two, who knows-and you've got a nice home to go back to. Don't waste it."

"I-"

"There you two are!"

Whatever Susan was about to say, she forgot it immediately when she spotted a half-annoyed, half-worried Antoine walking toward them. "Thank god you found her. I was about to get the police."

"Oh, did I do that?" Penny scratched the back of her head in a rather disingenuous manner. "I had no idea that was where we were headed."

Susan giggled. "Thanks, Penny. And thanks for helping me out back there."

"Well, like I said. City life is way different than-"

Susan now noticed Penny's vision drifting over her shoulder, where it seemed she had caught sight of something she didn't seem to like. The girl's face drained of all color, and the only thing that came out of her mouth was a mumbled " _Shit."_ Confused, Susan whirled around, scanning the horizon for whatever had put Penny off.

That's when she saw her. Standing near the Pokémon Center, chatting with a shorter, brown-haired young lady, was her favorite celebrity-someone she'd only ever dreamed of meeting. There was no mistaking her, even without her signature flowing cape; that iconic electric blue ponytail was recognizable from any distance. That had to be none other than-

"Hey," she heard Ant whisper. "Isn't that Jasmine Stahl? The five-time Pokeathlete of the Year?"

"What? What are you talking about?" she hissed back. "That's not Jasmine, that's-"

"Yes it is! See right there? The one in the dress, talking to the lady with the blue hair."

"What do you-" Only now did Susan register the other woman talking to her idol. "Oh. Right."

"I can't believe you recognized Clair and not one of the world's most famous athletes." Susan felt Ant's elbow nudge her in the side. "You really _do_ watch too much TV."

Her only response was a playful shove.

"What? It's true." Ant glanced behind him. "See, Penny, this is what I-"

He paused. Susan turned around to see what was the matter, only to find nothing at all. Penny was completely gone.

"Penny?" Susan called out. "Where are you?"

"She must have run off at some point without us knowing." Antoine patted his pockets. "Check your bag, Susan. Make sure she didn't take any-"

"Ant…"

"What? I'm serious. How do we know she wasn't just planning to steal our stuff the whole time?"

"She took us this far. What reason would she have to do that when she could have just done it back in Violet?"

"I don't know, maybe she was really committed to-"

"What seems to be the problem?"

The hairs on the back of Susan's neck stood on end as she froze in place. She only knew of one person with a voice like that.

Caught between eagerness and fright, Susan slowly turned around to see the tall, blue-haired lady staring down at her, eyes narrowed in what looked like distrust. Susan couldn't believe her luck. Of all the people to get on the bad side of…

Behind her, the other lady provided contrast by looking less suspicious and more concerned. "Is everything all right? You both look a bit on the fidgety side."

Susan opened her mouth to speak, but at that instant Clair raised one of her eyebrows, freezing the words in Susan's mouth before they could come out. Luckily for her, Ant seemed to pick up on this, because he quickly jumped in.

"Sorry, miss. We, uh...we just realized one of our...friends...is missing, and we were...about to go look for her."

Jasmine seemed to accept this explanation, and the concern passed from her face somewhat. "Well, I'm sure you'll find her. This is a big city, but it's hard to get lost here. Just keep track of where you've been and I'm sure she'll turn up."

"Thanks," Ant stammered out, fidgeting with his watch a little. It was slightly reassuring to Susan that even her brother was a little starstruck, although that did little to counteract the weight of Clair's gaze.

"Sorry, but…" he resumed. "You wouldn't happen to be...well…"

Jasmine smiled, clearly used to this sort of thing. "That's right. Jasmine Stahl, Gym Leader of Olivine City and five-time Pokeathlete of the Year, as voted by _Trainers' Weekly_ subscribers." She flipped her hair a little at this last part, as if for emphasis. "But that's mostly just a hobby, really."

"I see." Ant cleared his throat. "Sorry for being so awkward. It's just, well, it's a little unexpected."

The brown-haired lady chuckled. "Oh, it's okay. I get that all the time." She gestured toward Clair. "By the way, this is-"

Susan couldn't hold herself back anymore. "Clair Montague, International Police captain and star of _Johto's Most Wanted_! It's so awesome to meet you, I'm such a big fan, may I have your-"

Only now did she notice Clair staring at her, eyes wide, almost in shock. At this she cut herself off, almost feeling the words she had been about to say trying to cram themselves back inside her mouth and hide from everything. Susan immediately cast her gaze downward. "Sorry," she mumbled, her cheeks flushed as she realized how careless she'd been.

An awkward silence loomed over all of them for a moment. Then, with a giggle, Jasmine tried to break the ice.

"See, Clair?" she said, surprisingly content with temporarily playing second fiddle. "I told you people actually watch your show."

Clair, who seemed to have recovered, nodded. "True. I guess I never realized how many people really pay attention." She crouched to be on eye level with Susan, who looked back up in time to meet her eyes. "Nice to meet you, kid. I'm kind of surprised someone your age cares so much about law enforcement."

Susan stuttered for a moment. "W-Well, um...It's not that, so much as...well…"

Clair laughed a bit as she straightened. "Ah, I get it. You're just that impressed with my natural charisma. Don't worry, I get that a lot."

Susan nodded absentmindedly, thinking to herself that Clair could never know how right she was.

"Well, at any rate, it's not about the fame for me. You know, bringing criminals to justice and all that." Her smile faded, and her brow began to furrow. "In fact, this isn't exactly a sightseeing trip either. Without getting into specifics, there's...something here I'm after. And hopefully I'll find it before-"

A set of mechanical beeps from her pocket cut her off. She pulled out what looked to be some sort of futuristic phone and glared at the screen. "Agh, damn it. Speaking of which…" She put the phone away. "Sorry to cut and run, but it looks like we may have something near the radio station. Talk to you later, Jasmine. Good luck finding your friend, you two."

With that, she nodded, then grabbed one of the black and yellow Poke Balls that Susan only now noticed lined her belt. Almost nonchalantly, she tossed the ball into the air, releasing her Altaria (Susan recognized it from the show, of course; Clair's Altaria had been an integral part of many high-speed chases). The beast bowed somewhat to allow its trainer to climb aboard its cloud-like back, before taking off with unparalleled grace and lofting into the sky.

"Always on the move, that one," Jasmine sighed, watching the avian dragon as it disappeared from view. "But that's what working in law enforcement does to a person, I guess. No rest for the weary." She turned back to Susan and Ant, her eyes wide with excitement. "Oh, right! There's actually a Pokeathlon exhibition here tomorrow that I'm competing in. It's sold out, but they let the competitors set aside a few tickets each for friends and family, and I still have three or four left over, so if you're interested…"

Antoine cleared his throat. "Well, actually…"

"That'd be lovely," Susan interrupted, still a little dazed.

"Glad to hear it. The event starts at 2 p.m. tomorrow. At the ticket counter, just say that you're Jasmine's guests. I'll handle everything else."

"That's...great." Ant sounded the exact opposite of thrilled. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Just remember that this doesn't mean I'll give you an easy time when you do get to Olivine." She winked. "I'm a Gym Leader for a reason, after all."

"Of course."

With a nod, Jasmine stretched her arms for a moment. "Well, I'd better run. I have some other things I need to attend to here, so..." She turned to leave. "Hope you find your friend soon," she called over her shoulder as she walked off into the crowd.

Both siblings just sort of stood there as they watched Jasmine walk off. Susan still couldn't speak. She'd just met Clair-the one and only Clair. Whatever awaited them now, everything to this point had been completely and utterly worth it.

"That was...something," Antoine finally spoke up. "Jasmine definitely seems nice, but her fame just makes talking to her so intimidating..."

"You said it."

Susan and Antoine whirled around to see Penny, standing right behind them as though she'd never left. Antoine's jaw hung slack for a moment. "H-How did you-"

Penny held up her hand. "A master never reveals her secrets." Before Ant could object, she quickly continued: "At any rate, I ran into this guy. He said he'd be able to help show us around." She indicated the young man who was now approaching them. It didn't take long for Susan to realize that he looked a little familiar.

"Wait a minute...haven't we met you before?" Antoine had apparently picked up on it too. "Back in Violet, you-"

"Warned you about the Sudowoodo migration," the blonde-haired young man finished for him. "I should probably apologize for that; it ended up being a false alarm. Apparently someone had forgotten to turn off their sprinkler system that morning and sent the local colony into a panic."

"Great." Ant wasn't even bothering to try to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"At any rate, I should introduce myself." The young man adjusted his glasses. "My name is Ryan Bronte. I mainly live in Ecruteak, but I come down here whenever I have spare time. So I guess you could say I know this place fairly well."

"We aren't getting lost with this guy around," Penny added. "Now we've got a pro who can get us where we need to go!" She blinked. "Hey, that rhymed. I'm a genius."

"But that's why we brought _you_ along!" Antoine sounded properly peeved now. "I thought you said-"

"Th-that's not important!" For the first time, Susan heard a distinct note of panic in the girl's voice. "I _am_ good, but...y'know…"

An uneasy silence took hold of the group. Susan, unsure of what to do or say, decided against trying to break it. At last, though, Ryan cleared his throat.

"...We should probably get checked into the Pokémon Center, at the very least."

Antoine said nothing for a moment. Then, he nodded in silent agreement.

As Ryan led them toward the familiar red-and-white building, Susan couldn't shake the nagging feeling that her brother was starting to let the stress set in. He'd always been a little uptight, but this was something else. Maybe taking a day off to sit back and watch the Pokeathlon would help. Yes, maybe that's what they all needed.

At the very least, it couldn't hurt...right?


	12. Chapter 11: Diversion

Susan rubbed her eyes to make sure she was reading the price tag right. Three hundred dollars for a pair of jeans? Were they insane?

With a wistful sigh, she returned the pants to their place in the wall. This place was going to be the death of her wallet if she wasn't careful. Then again, she had the luxury of being able to simply browse; the idea of having to actually spend this kind of money just to get by was almost too much.

Standing on tiptoes, she tried to peer over the racks past the legions of other shoppers to find her next destination. Since clothes were pretty much out of the question, and she knew she didn't have any real need for appliances or housewares, that pretty much just left the battle supplies section, where Antoine had more or less set up camp the moment they'd walked into the department store.

Letting out another sigh, she started to wander amongst the shelves, not really looking for anything in particular. At one point, as she turned a corner, she nearly tripped over Joker, who'd chosen a space right in the middle of the racks to claim as his personal spot for the time being. She gazed down at the Slowpoke, silently cursing his heedless inertia, before finding another route.

Susan rounded another aisle just in time to see Basil sniffing at a rack of blouses, not entirely sure what to make of them. He tilted his head with a curious chirp, continuing to stare at the tops. Then, gently, he leaned in and bit down on the tail of a green shirt.

"No!" Susan swooped in and batted the blouse out of Basil's mouth. The Bayleef looked at her like she'd just betrayed him. "Bad Basil! No eating!"

With a snort, Basil turned his head in defiance.

"Don't you dare sass me, Basil!" Susan checked to make sure the shirt was still intact. "You're lucky I caught you. You know I can't pay for any of this."

The Bayleef, seemingly pretending not to hear her, simply turned with a huff and walked off, ignoring his trainer.

"Get back here! I'm not done with you!" Susan yelled after him, but to no avail. At last, she resigned herself to watching Basil strut off. She really needed to invest in a leash for him, or something. If only she'd remembered to grab his Poké Ball when she left home...

"Find anything interesting?"

Susan turned to see Ryan walking toward her, a loaded plastic bag in hand. "I'm already checked out," he continued. "Just needed a few supplies."

She shook her head. "Nothing yet. Or at least, nothing I can afford…"

"I know that feeling. The prices here scale up rather quickly." He nodded in the direction of the technical machine department. "Antoine's probably over there by now, so let's try to meet up with him."

"Right."

The two set off in the direction of the wall of compact disc-shaped devices on the far end of the store. As they walked, Susan occasionally cast glances down the aisles at the endless rows of goods that she almost certainly couldn't afford. It all made her feel rather small.

"Don't worry too much about it," Ryan spoke up, almost perfectly reading her thoughts. "The prices here are massively inflated anyway. It's a big store with a reputation for quality, so they're going to milk that as much as they can."

"I guess…" This made her feel a little bit better. At least now she could reassure herself that she didn't have to worry about price gouging like everyone else here.

"So I have to ask," Ryan continued, weaving a seamless topic transition into the conversation, "what's been your favorite part of this experience so far?"

"My favorite?" Susan thought for a moment. There'd been so much she'd seen and done in the last several days that she hadn't even thought to pick one standout moment. "I don't really know, actually...I'm just trying to enjoy it all, as much as I can."

He nodded. "That makes sense. That's probably the best way to handle something like this." He paused for a minute, before adding: "But that doesn't answer my question."

"Oh. Um…" Upon more reflection, Susan thought back to the warmth she'd felt when meeting her new Pokémon-Psy falling out of his tree, Joker's oblivious serenity, Foley's territorial charge (she choked up a little as she thought of her Geodude), Roxi's silent approval, and most recently Gabriel's sudden, unexpected arrival. All of them had left their own unique mark on her, she now realized, and nothing could take that away.

"The Pokémon," she said at last. "I've gotten to make so many new friends so far, and I'm so glad I got to see them up close and in person instead of on TV. I want to give them the best life I can now, because they deserve it."

"That's more like it." Ryan allowed himself a barely-visible smile. "You're starting to understand what traveling with Pokémon is all about. That's quite impressive for your age."

"I guess so." She couldn't help but smile back.

As quickly as it had come, his smile vanished again. "Do you think your brother feels the same way?"

"I think so...?"

In truth, Susan had no idea. He'd never really talked about his Pokémon that much on their journey, except to note how strong they were growing or how well they did in battle. He hadn't even let Kylian out to walk with them since he'd evolved. Did he feel the same way? Was he just better at keeping it internal? She couldn't quite tell.

Still, this answer seemed to satisfy Ryan, who nodded. "That makes me feel a lot better about the next thing I wanted to ask." They were approaching the TMs now, but Susan was too intrigued by what was about to come out of Ryan's mouth just now to pay much attention. "You see, I've been trying to give away some Eevee for a little while now, but I'm not having much luck. So I just thought I'd ask, for the sake of trying."

"Well, I'd say yes, but…" Susan felt a sheepish grin coming on. "Antoine told me I'm not allowed to just adopt Pokémon out of nowhere anymore. He's still annoyed about that Togetic yesterday…"

"Oh, I didn't necessarily mean you. I was actually about to ask if your brother would want one."

"Ant? But…" She hesitated. "I mean, I'm sure he would, but...are you sure you're able to just give a Pokémon away like that?"

"Of course. My Jolteon had a clutch of eggs a couple of months ago, and Enzo and I have been trying to give as many of them away to good homes as possible. I think your brother would make a fine Eevee trainer."

Susan stopped in her tracks. "Wait a minute. You know Enzo?"

"Indeed. We've been roommates for a year or two now. We each sort of go our own way most of the time, but both of us are sort of...well, I guess 'attached' to Ecruteak, for lack of a better way to put it." Ryan pulled off his glasses and began to wipe them with the tail of his shirt. "Once we got to know each other and figured out how much we had in common, sharing a little place just made sense, practically speaking."

"But doesn't it get frustrating never having time to yourself?"

"That's what going off on my own is for. If I want solitude, I can just go out and lose myself in the world for a while. If I want someone to talk to and confide in, I just have to go back home." Ryan lifted the glasses, inspecting them for any remaining smudges, then replaced them on his face. "Sometimes the best part of traveling is knowing you have a home to go back to afterward, you know?"

Susan felt a lump forming in her throat as images of her adoptive parents flashed across her mind. All she could muster in response was a muted "Yeah…"

Ryan must have noticed, because he immediately changed the subject. "So how often do you battle?" he asked. "With all due respect, you seem to be a bit of a novice."

"I don't do it all that often." Susan hesitated for a moment. "Should I?" she added.

"Not necessarily. Nothing wrong with being a pacifist." Ryan pulled a couple of discs from the rack and squinted at them, almost as if trying to stare right through them. "But everyone has to battle sometime, whether it be for fun, for glory, or just for self-defense."

"I guess…" Susan thought for a moment. "I mean, I guess Roxi would be a good choice for battling, but I haven't had her that long, so I don't know if she really trusts me yet. Psy doesn't really listen to me much anymore ever since he evolved. And Joker, well..." She scratched her head. "I'm not even sure if he knows who I am."

"What about your Bayleef?"

Susan froze, then immediately shook her head. "No. I'm not going to make Basil get himself hurt. He's here for moral support, and that's it."

"But he's-"

"No buts. Basil doesn't fight. At all."

Ryan sighed. "I suppose I can't argue against wanting to keep your companion safe." He put the discs away and scanned the rack for a moment. "But there's more ways to battle than just going on an all-out offensive."

Susan blinked, confused. "Like what?"

"Antoine mentioned that your Bayleef used a certain specific move right after evolving back in Ilex Forest. Let's see here…" He traced his finger down the row of display cases, scanning the label of each as he passed it, before finally finding the one he was after.

"Here we go." He grabbed a pink-tinted jewel case and handed it to Susan. "This is the Technical Machine for a move known as 'Light Screen.' The idea is that it helps protect against any non-physical attacks against your Pokémon. It would complement the move Basil already knows: 'Reflect,' which dampens incoming physical attacks."

Susan blinked as she stared down at the case in her hands, his words not quite making it into the part of her brain that processed language. "Sorry?"

"If your Pokemon uses Light Screen, my Jolteon's Thunderbolt would do less damage to it than usual, but her Spark would do about the same amount of damage." Ryan pushed up his glasses. "And with Reflect, it's the other way around."

" _Oh."_ Susan flipped the case over. Within seconds, she was having to pick her jaw up from the floor upon seeing the price tag. "Whoa. Um...I can't…" She felt her cheeks go red as she fumbled to put the disc back on the shelf. "I can't actually afford this…"

"Relax." Ryan grabbed her wrist, stopping her from returning the CD. "This one's on me."

"What?" Susan couldn't believe her ears. That TM cost a fortune! "But-"

"Don't worry about it. I've got more than enough to cover it. In fact..." He turned around and grabbed another disc off the shelf behind him. This one was bright yellow.

"You have a Flaaffy too, right? I'd say it needs a good Electric-type move to take advantage of its power." He handed her the disc. "I think Thunderbolt should do the trick."

"Um…"

Now Susan couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Here was some guy who, let's face it, she barely knew, and yet he was offering to buy her not one, but _two_ expensive Technical Machines. She couldn't help but stare at him a little; if he noticed, he didn't seem to feel like responding.

"Thank you," she eventually said. "This is really nice."

"Don't mention it." He nodded. "Always happy to help out someone in need."

"Uh-huh." Susan tried not to let her suspicion creep into her voice, but she realized she wasn't doing a great job.

Before she could say anything else, she heard a voice calling out to them:

"There you are!"

She turned to see Antoine coming up toward them, with Penny following along behind. Susan noticed that Penny seemed to be walking a little more slowly than usual...and had she always been that bulky around the middle?

"We should check out soon if we're going to that Pokeathlon thing." Antoine hoisted his shopping bag over his shoulder. "I'm not sure why he told me to buy that Water Stone" (he nodded toward Ryan) "but I've got everything else I need."

"So we're leaving, then? Great." Penny adjusted something in her waist section, which Susan now saw was profoundly lumpy and misshapen. She didn't say anything, though; part of her wanted to see what would happen next.

"Yeah, I think-" Antoine started to look at Penny, but was caught off guard by the sudden amount of bulk she seemed to have put on. He took one look at Penny and sighed. "Absolutely not."

"What are you talking-"

"Don't play dumb. Out with it."

"Fiiiine." With a groan, Penny reached under her shirt and began pulling out merchandise. It took quite a while for her to finish, and by the time she was done, Penny had excavated five Max Potions, three Technical Machines, a dozen Repels and one extra-large bottle of Protein (Susan wasn't quite sure she wanted to ask how she'd hid that last one).

"Is that it?" Antoine squinted at Penny as she emptied the last bit of illicit goods.

"Um…" Penny patted herself down. "Oh! Wait a second." Digging in one last time, she pulled out a single Ultra Ball from within her sleeve, which she tossed onto the pile. "There we go," she said at last. "That's it."

"Good. The last thing we need is for you to get us in trouble with the law." Ant turned back to Susan. Go round up Basil and Joker and let's get going."

"Right." Susan turned back and plunged back into the maze of the store. "Basil? Come on, we're leaving!"

It took a few minutes to find Basil (he'd become distracted by the toys in the Pokémon Care section), but Joker, unsurprisingly, was right where she'd left him. By the time she'd gathered both of them and returned, the rest had finished checking out.

As they walked out of the store, Susan spotted Penny surreptitiously tuck a Hyper Potion into a rear pocket of Antoine's backpack. Then, noticing her, the girl winked and put a finger to her lips. Susan, struggling to hold in a giggle, returned the gesture.

* * *

Even from a distance, it was difficult to miss the enormous steel arena that peeked over the Goldenrod skyline. The newly-constructed Oichi Stadium, named for a historical figure held in high regard by the city's populace, was truly a sight to behold. Not only was it pretty to look at, but as the posters outside it claimed, it would bring an exceptional sum of added revenue into the city treasury over the coming years courtesy of the upcoming Pokeathlon circuit.

As the group melded into the throngs of people streaming toward the grand stadium, Susan felt the butterflies in her chest start flapping again. The view from the street was enough to take her breath away.

"We should probably hurry if we're going to see this exhibition," Antoine shouted over the noise of the crowd, interrupting her inner awe. "We're nearly late already."

"I wouldn't worry too much," she heard Ryan respond. "There's almost certainly going to be some sort of opening ceremony, so we have a few extra minutes as long as we don't mind missing it."

Susan didn't bother responding. She was too busy trying to recapture the feel of the moment. The anticipation was-

"Ow!"

A rock had struck her in the small of her back. She whipped around to see Goji perched on Penny's shoulder, attempting to seem distracted so as to look innocent. His occasional sidelong glance at Susan made this impossible.

"Goji, what the hell?" Penny grabbed her Larvitar off his perch and tucked him under her arm. "That was mean! No more shoulder for you until you behave yourself."

The small rockbiter stuck out his tongue at his trainer.

"You little- _ugh_." Penny looked up at Susan. "Sorry. He gets agitated in big crowds."

Susan shook her head and sighed. The wonder of the moment was now completely lost.

Luckily for all involved, the arena now lay right before them. It was even bigger up close than any of them could have imagined. Out in front of the ticketing plaza, a conspicuous crowd was beginning to form around a rather large, gray-bearded man in a blue suit and his similarly-hued Pokémon. He seemed to be having a jolly time chatting with those in attendance as his Pokémon, a Poliwrath, stood nearby in stoic vigilance.

"That must be Gunther Magnus," Ryan explained. "He's on the executive board of one of the biggest banks in the world. This stadium has been his personal pet project for at least five years." Though he kept his tone neutral, there was a distinct undercurrent of admiration in his voice. "He must have been dreaming of this day for a long time."

One of the assembled patrons must have said something funny, for at that moment the massive man burst into a spectacular belly laugh. His gaze turned, and suddenly he caught notice of Susan and company. He resumed his wholehearted grin as he waved them over.

"Come on, come on!" he beckoned. "Don't be shy! Feast your eyes on the newest and greatest entertainment venue in all of Johto!" He looked at Susan specifically and greeted her with a warm grin. "Have you seen the like of it, child?"

"Uh...no, not really." She wasn't sure which was putting her off more: the enormity of the stadium, or the sudden and unexpected prospect of being forced into conversation with a complete stranger.

Antoine tried to bail her out by joining in himself. "This place is massive," he began, scratching his head. "How much did this whole thing cost?"

Another laugh from Magnus. "More than I can say, young man!" He sighed. "Ah, but it's worth it, every last penny." (Penny, who had zoned out during most of this, briefly snapped to attention upon hearing her name, before realizing what was being said and promptly letting her mind wander again.) "I'd pay any cost to give back to this city even a fraction of what it's done for me."

"Wow…" A wave of awe washed over Susan. "This must mean a lot to you."

"It certainly does, child. It certainly-"

At this moment, Susan saw Magnus' eyes flicker upward to spot something over their shoulder. Whatever it was, in an instant, his cheery demeanor gave way ever so slightly; she barely managed to make out his eyes widening slightly, almost in fear, as he took in whatever he'd seen. Then, as quickly as it had come, the moment was gone, and he was back to himself.

"But you don't want to listen to me all day, surely!" He waved the group toward the door. "Hurry on in! There's not long left until the event begins!"

Before any of them could protest, or even ask about the sudden urgency, the assembled crowd began to drift toward the entrance. Rather than obstruct the flow, they had little choice but to follow along.

As expected, the ticket window gave them no trouble, although Jasmine had only thought to provide three tickets, meaning Ryan had to pay his own way in (a fact which he didn't seem to mind all that much). Upon checking in an annoyed Basil at the counter for security reasons, they navigated their way through the massive crowds in the lobby and found their seats at the front end of the balcony, immediately overlooking the corner of the field some way down. Over the loudspeaker, the emcee seemed to be wrapping up some sort of presentation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience!" The presenter's enthusiasm seemed almost infectious, as a roar went up from the crowd as he said this. "On behalf of the Goldenrod Stadium Corporation, and CEO of SilverBank Gunther Magnus, who is in attendance here tonight…"

At this, the big screen switched over to display a live feed of Magnus' personal balcony, which Susan quickly realized was right next to their own. She craned her neck to see Magnus standing, raising his hands in appreciation for the round of applause he now received.

But ultimately, Magnus wasn't the person she ended up staring at.

Just behind the large man and his Poliwrath, on the near side, stood a familiar-looking figure. Clad mainly in white, his cool demeanor and conspicuus cape gave him away instantly: the odd man from Azalea.

But what was he doing here?

As if to answer, Susan felt that weird chill again, just the way it had appeared last time. Every neuron in her brain was firing a warning signal, as if trying to alert her that something was amiss. Still, she said nothing, though she felt her gaze locked on the man regardless. Her mind now stood conflicted. Was she supposed to stay away, or get closer…?

"Su? What's wrong?"

Antoine's voice once again broke the spell. She shook her head, as if shaking free of whatever beguiling presence the man seemed to project. "Nothing," she lied. "Just thought I saw someone I knew."

Antoine nodded, then turned his attention back to the field. So too did Susan, as the emcee on the ground had already begun to announce the participants.

"...In the green uniform, from Vermilion City...Hudson Quincy, accompanied by Ohm, Livewire and Socket!" A tall, wiry young man waved to the crowd, his Magneton, Electrode and Shuckle remaining stock still. "And last, but not least, in the yellow uniform…"

The crowd were already on their feet before the announcer could finish his thought. Out of necessity, Susan and the others got to their feet as well. This was who they'd come to see; as if the Steelix weren't already enough of a giveaway…

Still, the announcer did his best to plow through. "From Olivine City, the five-time _Trainers' Weekly Magazine_ Pokéathlete of the Year...Jasmine Stahl, accompanied by Spark, Dynamo and Rusty!"

The thousands of people packing the stadium went into a frenzy. Jasmine herself stepped forward, flanked by her Magnemite and Magneton, and blew a kiss to the crowd. Behind her, her Steelix, which to this point had been coiled up on the ground, now uncoiled itself to full stretch to stand tall, eclipsing everyone and everything smaller than it. Rearing back, the enormous metal snake released a deafening, grinding roar that nearly shook the building. Susan almost lost her balance from the sheer force of the noise.

The roar only served to bolster the cheers of the crowd. There was no question whom they considered the favorite.

"Now, Goldenrod," the loudspeaker proclaimed, "are you ready for the first event?" The crowd roared its approval. "Then get on your feet! Let's…"

As one, the crowd screamed: "POKÉATHLON!"

((If this were Glitched, the next line would be something to the effect of "It was at this point that Victor began to wonder if he'd accidentally stumbled into some sort of weird cult gathering."))

The atmosphere now was positively electric. Susan felt goosebumps crawling over her skin as the anticipation began to take hold. The stiff breeze that now began to pick up somehow only added to the feeling.

"Now for today's first event…" The announcer paused for effect, then bellowed: " _Ring Drop!"_

The competitors, taking this as their cue, walked down toward the near end of the arena, coming to a halt on a raised square platform. After they had made their way to their designated positions at each corner, the platform hissed with steam, then began to rise into the air, revealing a network of scaffolding and mechanisms underneath. The platform rose and rose, going higher and higher into the air, until it was almost at eye level. There it stopped, and from each corner sprouted a rectangular extension, onto which the trainers now retreated.

"This is Jasmine's best event," Susan overheard Antoine explaining to Ryan to her left. "She's almost unbeatable with that Steelix of hers."

On her opposite side, she felt Penny fidget a little in her seat. She turned to see the girl with her legs tucked up into her chest, so that she was barely peeking over her knees at the action in front of them. Susan deduced that she must have been afraid of heights.

"Pokéathletes ready!" the announcer called out. One by one, the four competitors signaled that they were indeed ready to begin.

"Referee ready!"

Susan now noticed a small flying machine hovering over the ring, wherein sat a small figure in black and white vertical stripes. Evidently the referee was also prepared, as the countdown now began.

"Three! Two! One! _Go!_ "

In synchronization, the four trainers tossed out their Pokémon onto the platform. The two trainers Susan had missed sent out a Snorlax and a Machoke, Hudson released his Magneton, and, naturally, Jasmine led with her trusty Steelix, whose appearance drew immediate applause.

In a flash, the other three Pokémon immediately converged on the giant serpent, pooling their power in an attempt to knock the favorite out early. The Magneton released a piercing metallic shriek that staggered the Steelix, opening it to a charging tackle from the Snorlax that sent it skidding backward. Without wasting a moment, the Machoke leapt in behind to catch it, taking the metal monster in what would be called a waist hold if Steelix had a waist.

"And immediately our other three challengers team up to fight off Jasmine's Steelix!" the announcer narrated. "It seems they've all agreed on the highest priority target!"

If the Gym Leader was perturbed by the strategy, the close-up of her that now appeared on the jumbotron didn't seem to show it. Instead, she called something out to her Pokémon, accompanying her command with some sort of hand gesture.

In response, the Steelix, surprisingly not even slightly encumbered by the onslaught, coiled itself into a pile, then leapt into the air. For a full second, the giant metal snake looked almost like a parade balloon, the way it hung in the air so effortlessly. Then, as quickly as it had ascended, it flung itself to the ground in a massive aerial slam. The impact of the attack sent shockwaves across the stadium-Susan could have sworn she felt the balcony sway beneath them.

The attack was devastating. Like chunks of papier-mâché, the Machoke and Magneton flew off the platform from the force of the slam, their trainers' Poke Balls intercepting them before they could fall too far. The attack, a replay of which instantly appeared on the screen, sent the announcer into a frenzy.

"Oh my! Rusty with the double elimination! How quickly the tables have turned!"

Susan joined in the massive cheer that erupted from the crowd as the two remaining competitors squared off. Steelix slithered across the platform, drawing close to the Snorlax before bellowing out in mechanical fury right into the beast's face. The spectacle made the cheer from the crowd reach a fever pitch.

But once again, she felt that eerie chill run down her spine, and she knew something wasn't quite right. It was only now that she noticed that the breeze had died down. On a hunch, she glanced over toward Magnus' balcony, just in time to see the large man retreating inside the building, his caped guest following close behind.

If she'd had any doubts before that something was amiss, they had been completely dispelled. Before she could so much as rationalize her actions, she hopped to her feet, mumbled something to Antoine about having to use the bathroom, and made her way up the steps and back inside as discreetly as she could manage. She was a full three steps away from the door before she could piece together that she'd let her instincts take over again. At that point, though, she pretty much had to go inside anyway-what, was she going to just change her mind about going to the restroom? Nobody would buy it, and then she'd really have some explaining to do.

This was almost certainly a bad idea, she knew. But then again, decision-making hadn't exactly been her forte lately anyway.


	13. Chapter 12: House of Mirrors

Susan nudged her way through the crowd of people in front of the concession stand. As she scouted the concourse for the caped man, her mind was once again berating her increasingly poor life choices.

This was stupid. What could this possibly accomplish? And why did this random man with questionable taste in fashion weigh so heavily on her mind? She should have just stayed in her seat and enjoyed the rest of the show, like any normal person-

"What the hell? Watch it, kid!"

Susan had barely registered that she'd bumped into someone. She looked up to see an older gentleman scowling down at her. "Sorry," she offered.

The man glared at her, then walked off, shaking his head and mumbling something about "damned brats" or some such.

It took a moment for Susan to realize her heart was racing. Maybe she just wasn't good with strangers, she reasoned with herself.

The PA announcer was on again, no doubt getting the crowd excited for the next event. Antoine would surely now be beginning to wonder where she'd gone; even on her worst days, trips to the bathroom wouldn't take this long. He must be close to assuming she'd gotten lost, and then he'd go searching for her, and this whole thing would have been pointless. She had to find what she was after, and the sooner the better.

At last, a lead presented itself: a dark hallway off to one side leading to a staircase, the entrance to which was blocked by a large, intimidating security guard. Obviously, trying to pass by normally would be a no-go; she'd have to wait until he was distracted somehow.

Susan took up a vantage point at a conveniently placed lounge area. She grabbed a copy of the _Goldenrod Courier_ and held it up to her face-not reading, exactly, but to hide her face from any security cameras or curious passersby. At least, she assumed that's why they did it in the movies.

It didn't take long, though, before Susan recognized the obvious downside to blocking her own face with a newspaper. With a sigh, she folded the paper up and tossed it aside. She needed a real plan.

Keeping as low a profile she could manage, she skulked over to the seat at the edge of the lounge area and hid behind it. Then, slowly straightening, she peered over the back of the seat at the guard. At the moment, he seemed to be in conversation with another guard that had walked up to join him. He wasn't really paying attention to his post; if she was quick about it, maybe she could-

"...You realize how stupid you look right now, right?"

Susan whirled around to see Penny scanning the same newspaper she'd just dropped. "If you're trying to make yourself invisible, you're not doing a good job," the girl continued, feigning interest in whatever she was reading.

Susan let out the breath she'd been holding in. "Stop doing that! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"That's because I actually know how to get places without being seen." Penny's eyes shifted on the page. "Oh wow, they finally cracked down on that illicit breeding ring. Never would've guessed the Moomoo Farm people would be behind it all."

"What are you even doing out here? Shouldn't you be watching the Pokéathlon?"

Penny shrugged, eyes still on the paper. "Never really been one for sports. Figured whatever you were getting up to would be more interesting." She flipped to the next page. "Besides, I thought I saw that lady from the police show in the crowd somewhere. Probably wouldn't care who Goji or I are, but I can't take any chances."

"It's not like you're a wanted criminal or anything, though."

The other girl looked up from the paper with a grin, a devilish twinkle in her eye. "As far as you know."

"Very funny." Susan turned her attention back toward the hallway. The other security guard had left, leaving the original guard to resume surveillance. Her moment had passed.

"Ugh...now what do I do?" Susan racked her brain for ideas.

"What's wrong?"

Susan looked back at Penny again. "I have to get back into that hallway beyond that guard, but I need some way to keep him occupied long enough for me to get past."

"A distraction, eh?" Penny walked over to Susan's chair to take a closer look at the guard, who miraculously hadn't noticed either of them yet. Susan watched the wheels begin to turn in her head as they sat there. Then, a smile broke over her face.

"Leave it to me," she finally said.

Before Susan could ask, Penny had already made for the concession stand. Susan watched as the girl, out of sight of anyone else, let her Larvitar out of its Poké Ball and sent it into the middle of the crowd.

Nothing happened for a while at first. Then, just as Susan was wondering what exactly Penny's plan had been, a hair-raising screech rose from the mob.

Within moments, the crowd had circled around the Larvitar, who had taken to bawling uncontrollably. Penny, taking this as her cue, charged into the confusion.

"What did you people do to my baby?" she screamed, doing her best "overprotective mother" voice. "One of you stepped on my little darling, didn't you? _Didn't you?_ Who was it? I swear to-" She fixated on someone at random. " _You!_ It was you, wasn't it? You could've killed my precious little pet, you monster!"

"Wh-what? I didn't-it wasn't-" The accused man stammered, trying to come up with a defense on the spot. "I didn't see anything there just now! It must have been-uh-" (his eyes scanned the others for a suitable scapegoat) "-her!" He pointed at a relatively well-dressed lady. "It has to have been her! She was right next to me just now!"

"What?" The lady objected. "That's nonsense! How could I have-"

She was soon brushed aside by a taller man stepping forward. "No, it wasn't here, it was that guy over there!" And he pointed at another bystander. "I saw it!"

"Hey, that's my husband you're talking about!" called out yet another man, a rather buff-looking one at that, stepping in front of the accused. "You watch your mouth, asshole!"

"And you watch _your_ mouth, jackass, if you're getting anywhere near me!"

It was at this point that the buff man dove for the tall man, grabbing him by the neck as the rest of the assembled crowd rushed in to try to separate them. Susan watched as the security guard, noticing the commotion from his post, rushed over to calm things down.

Then, from within the ball of chaos, Susan watched Penny emerge unscathed with Goji, motioning for her to get out of there.

Susan didn't need to be told twice. She made a break for the hallway, unseen by just about everyone thanks to Penny's distraction. As she made it to the stairwell, she turned around to see Penny racing after her.

"Keep moving!" she hissed. "They'll figure it out any second now!"

They both hustled up the steps, desperate to avoid being spotted. At last, they came to the top of the stairs, emerging into a seemingly deserted hallway. They took a moment to catch their breath.

"How did you learn how to do that?" Susan eventually asked.

"Simple," came Penny's response. "When you're in the middle of a group of people, all it takes is one well-placed freakout, and everyone else joins in. It's like dominoes, but funnier."

"Right." Susan made sure to file that away for later.

At last they managed to regain their energy. Susan looked one direction, then the other; both directions seemed to curve off into the distance, like one great ring of offices, mostly deserted. The silence stood stark against the commotion they'd left behind, and made her hair stand on end from anticipation-of what, she had no idea.

"Let's go that way," she said, pointing in front of her.

"Agreed," she heard Penny say.

Susan took a few steps in the direction she'd chosen. When she glanced back to ask Penny something, the other girl was nowhere to be found. A moment of panic soon gave way to annoyance when she looked further: Penny had begun walking in exactly the opposite direction.

"Penny!" she hissed, trying to catch her attention. To her surprise, Penny actually turned around. After a second's shock, Penny realized what had happened, before jogging up behind her.

"Sorry," Penny whispered when she caught up. "Probably should have communicated better just then."

"Yeah..." Susan turned back toward the hallway, and this time both of them set off in the right direction.

Every step brought them closer and closer to their destination-or was it further and further? Maybe it was both; that was how circles worked, after all. Or was it? Susan had never been good at geometry. Or most subjects, really.

Nevertheless, they pressed on, their destination unknown but surely not far now. Every so often, Susan would catch a glimpse of her reflection in the darkened glass windows as they passed each office. In some, her reflection looked normal. In others, it seemed, the warping of the glass bent and twisted it into something unrecognizable.

It was almost like...yes, she remembered now: like that one strange building at a carnival they'd gone to when she was eight. The feeling of being lost in a great maze, with nothing to comfort her but her own grossly distorted reflection at every turn...it was one of the earliest memories she had left, come to think of it. By the time Antoine had found her, she'd curled into a ball in a corner, keeping her eyes tightly shut so she didn't have to watch the mirrors turn her into something so grotesque...

"Seriously, how big is this thing?" Penny whispered from behind her after another minute or two. "I've never seen so much gray in one place before."

"I know." Susan tried to banish those thoughts from her mind as she shielded her eyes from the bright fluorescent lights above them. "It's like it goes on forever…"

"I bet we'd have been there faster if we'd gone the other way. Why didn't you listen to-"

The sight of a door gently swinging open up ahead cut her off. Susan felt her stomach leap-there was almost no time to react. She glanced to one side, then the other-by chance, a lone empty office lay wide open. She grabbed Penny's shirt, pulling both of them inside just as the door ahead began to close again.

Susan and Penny hid just inside the doorway, pressed against the wall. Out in the hall, footsteps echoed off the walls and ceiling, and a tall figure in a wrinkled dress shirt passed by the doorway. Susan peeked out to watch him leave; if he'd seen anything, he wasn't making a show of it. Too close.

The coast once again clear, they both crept back into the hall.. Susan estimated her heart was now going at about fifty thousand beats per minute. As stupid as this sneaking around was, she couldn't help but feel a little invogorated by it all. Still, though, she hoped they weren't far-

"Hey, look," Penny interrupted, pointing out an alcove just down the hall. "That looks pretty important."

As silently as they could manage, the two girls approached the large cutout. The stained wood-relief double doors provided a welcome visual break from the oppressive monotone they'd seen to this point. To the left of the doors, a plaque boasted: "Gunther Magnus, Chairman."

"This is what you were looking for?" Susan could almost hear the scoff in Penny's voice. "You wanted a one-on-one with some fat cat? You really didn't seem the type when I met you."

Before Susan could respond, a muffled shout caught her attention. It seemed to be coming from beyond the doors.

She knelt down next to the door and cupped a hand to her ear. As she felt Penny do the same just behind her, she began to make out a loud, booming voice.

"-Absolute nonsense!" She heard a loud thud that sounded like someone beating on a table. "You're already milking me dry, and you expect _more_?"

"Patience, Gunther." A second voice interrupted, its silky and measured tone standing in contrast to Magnus' bluster. "Our initial arrangement did not take certain unforeseen circumstances into account. My own error, really. So naturally, it has become necessary to... _renegotiate_ our terms."

"Just because your pig-brained lackeys couldn't be bothered to properly secure a horde of Heracross, that doesn't mean you get to simply barge in and demand an even larger payment than what you're already taking!"

Susan felt a sharp jab in her ribs, courtesy of Penny's elbow. She'd caught it too: the Heracross in the forest and the huge truck full of cages made sense now. But what would he have done with a whole bunch of Bug-types?

Against her better judgment, Susan gripped the doorknob. With the gentlest of movements, she twisted the handle at the slowest speed she could manage, before just barely opening a crack between door and frame. Inside the office, Magnus, red in the face from shouting, had flung his chair aside and was leaning over his desk, towering over the caped man, who remained seated opposite Magnus' desk, facing away from the door. Poliwrath stood off to one side, keeping watch over its master's guest.

The caped figure was in the middle of a thought when she started paying attention again: "...any idea how much those Heracross would have fetched? The Goldenrod Game Corner alone would have paid millions for the privilege, to say nothing of the likes of Mauville and Celadon. Heracross are in high demand among the youth nowadays, you see-"

Magnus punched his desk again. "This is blackmail and daylight robbery! Do you have any idea-"

"What you can do to me?" The second man laughed. "Come now, Gunther. We both know you can't do anything to me. You overestimate your own capability."

"That's what you think! You do realize Clair Montague is in town, correct? One word to her and your little empire crumbles. You'll have nothing left."

"Montague? The glorified TV host? If you truly believe threatening to appeal to some D-list celebrity will be enough to sway me, then clearly you're losing touch with reality in your old age." There was a pause before the other man continued. "Or have you forgotten our...arrangement?"

The color seemed to drain from Magnus' face in nearly an instant. The second man chuckled again before continuing.

"Ah, yes. It seems that's still fresh in your memory after all." The man stood and began pacing, his footsteps echoing across the room. "Understandably so. The warm nights, the beautiful view, the _enchanting_ company...I doubt I'd forget an experience such as that myself-especially if I knew what could happen if the evidence fell into the wrong hands."

"You wouldn't dare," Magnus stammered.

"If it consoles you to believe as much, then who am I to stop you?" Susan could almost see the smug grin that must be crawling across the caped man's face at this moment. "But remember, Magnus...one word about this to anyone, and the next day's Goldenrod Courier is going to have one _hell_ of a cover story. Then we'll see just who holds the power in this little agreement of ours." He sounded positively giddy now. "And let's not even _think_ of the implications for our poor Gym Leader friend. She's already facing a public relations nightmare with her failed resort on the cape. The last thing she needs is to be connected to something such as this…"

Poliwrath begin to growl, and its trainer sounded thoroughly unamused himself. "You know, Eusine," he said, "When some street punk finally gives you what you've got coming, I hope to Arceus that you find yourself in the blackest, foulest part of hell."

"Oh, don't worry. I have no illusions about my future. But I do intend to make the present a living nightmare for those who cross me. And you're not going to cross me...right?"

Magnus simply glowered at Eusine, who seemed to take the former's silence as tacit agreement.

"Good." He walked back behind his chair and began to lean on it as he spoke. "Now, as I said, with one major revenue stream decreased, we're now in a precarious position financially, and the Safari Zone projections will not be enough to cover the remaining expenditure. And let's not even discuss what it's costing me to keep the Azalea police from getting involved in that whole business in the forest. All those anonymous donations only go so far..."

Susan felt the chill within her again as she listened. What sort of monster would just exploit Pokémon like that? And why would police willingly just give up an investigation because someone paid them? Justice was their whole job, wasn't it? But then-

A rush of consciousness washed over her in that moment, breaking her train of thought. She looked up to make sure she hadn't accidentally opened the door any wider, only to spot what had to be the strangest thing she'd ever seen. For in that moment, she felt a fierce, tempestuous energy coursing through her veins, and it seemed as though her skin had become wrapped in a thin, silvery veil of some kind. She stared at it for a moment, completely at a loss.

"Uh...Susan?" Penny stammered out, audibly struggling to keep herself at a whisper-she'd seen it too. "Are you...glowing a little?"

Before she could answer, inside the office, Susan saw the caped man stiffen. He paused for a minute, then turned to one side. It took Susan a few moments before she was able to process that he was looking straight at the door where she and Penny were listening.

Frozen to the spot, she could only watch as Eusine slowly stalked toward the door. Her blood ran cold at the prospect of being caught now, but she couldn't will her body to move out of the way. All she could manage was to pull her head away from the crack and behind the door as Eusine approached, as she did everything in her power to make this strange light subside. Why wouldn't it stop…?

Susan felt the doorknob move ever so slightly within her hand as the man grasped onto it from the other side. On instinct, she braced herself, ready to try to push the door closed again as soon as he tried to open it-she knew it wouldn't really matter, but it was all she could think to do-

"What the hell are you doing now?"

Silence. Then, the knob relaxed. Eusine's voice carried through the crack in the door: "Apologies. I thought I sensed something on the other side of this door. It seems I was mistaken." She listened as he turned and walked back to the center of the room, his footsteps fading back to their previous volume. Susan dared not even sigh in relief. She looked back down at her arms; the glow had finally begun to fade.

"As I was saying," the man continued, "until such time as the Safari Zone can underwrite our operating costs, we will require an additional ten percent of all monthly revenues to properly defray the lost income from the Heracross... _incident._ And I do mean _all_ monthly revenues. And if you fail to honor this agreement…well, I think you know what happens."

Magnus tentatively nodded. "I...I understand."

"I hope for your sake that you do. And for her sake as well." Eusine seemed to have relaxed again, his momentary tension seemingly behind him. "A pity she had to be tied up in all this." An evil smile stretched across his face. "But judging from the pictures, I dare say you both likely preferred it that way."

"Why, you-"

At this precise moment, out of nowhere, Susan felt herself being yanked back from the door with astonishing ground rushed up to meet her, crashing into her and rendering her almost immobile on the floor. A loud voice barked at them:

"What are you kids doing here?"

She tried to right herself to face the rather large security guard that had just discovered them. She couldn't remember how to speak, even as the guard leered down at her. Before she could react, she felt Penny behind her hoisting her back to her feet.

"Don't move, don't say anything," she heard her whisper. "When I say 'now,' we're going to bolt, got it? Just follow my lead."

"Wha-"

"Look, kids," the guard interrupted, "you're clearly lost. This is somewhere you're not supposed to be." Despite his attempt at a friendly tone, the throbbing pain in the back of Susan's head undercut his intent a bit. "Just tell me who you're with, and we'll get you back to-"

"Now!"

Susan had no time to react; her shoulders were yanked backward with such force that she very nearly fell over again. Instead, though, she stumbled for a moment before finding her footing again. By that point, Penny was already long gone.

"Get back here!"

Seeing no alternative, Susan took off. Though nobody would call her a champion sprinter, she considered herself reasonably quick. It must have been those summers of softball practice that helped. She was still in reasonably good athletic shape.

Still, it was all she could do to keep up with Penny; the other girl was just too fast. Behind them, she heard the security guard calling into his radio for backup-he was gaining on them with every step, he was going to catch them for sure, what could she-

That's when Susan got an idea. She grabbed one of the Poke Balls she kept in her pocket-she'd been experimenting with keeping them in more accessible locations, so she didn't have to dig through her bag every time-and flung it backward at the guard, releasing Roxi right into his path.

The security guard, for his part, tried to skid to a stop, but he was moving too fast. And so he crashed right into the Heracross that had just materialized in front of him.

"Oh no, sorry, Roxi!" Susan called back.

The Heracross looked at the guard, then back at Susan, more confused than injured. Then she took off, her insectile wings sprouting from her back as she caught up to her trainer.

Penny and Susan and Roxi continued to sprint down the hall, occasionally receiving weird looks from the rare passersby, until-

"There!" Penny reached back and pulled Susan toward the staircase they'd come up from earlier. When they shuffled down the steps, though, they were greeted by an unwelcome sight. Two security guards, even bigger and more muscular than the one they'd just evaded, were waiting for them at the foot of the stairs, accompanied by two equally menacing-looking Machoke. A thick wall of human and Pokémon muscle stood between them and freedom. Roxi jumped in front of them, but even she seemed to be dwarfed in size by the figures before them.

Susan froze up as the guards approached them. What now?

She grabbed at another of her Poké Balls-which one didn't matter-and flung it up alongside Roxi. The ball bounced and sent out its payload: her Slowpoke, Joker.

"Quick, Slowp-I mean, Joker! Use...uh…" What was it Slowpoke could use that would help here? Oh, right. "Confusion! Quickly!"

Silence. Joker stood rooted to the spot, staring into the middle distance.

Susan had to resist the urge to bury her face in her hands. Maybe a Slowpoke wasn't a good choice in high-pressure situations.

The guards and Machoke swarmed them, one of the guards tackling Susan to the ground. No matter how she struggled, the guard held on tight, keeping her from breaking free at every chance she had. Above her, Susan saw Roxi putting up a valiant fight against one of the Machoke, but the battle was quickly turning against her.

On her opposite side, another of the guards had successfully pinned Penny to the floor as well, despite her protests. Goji tried to fling a flurry of small rocks into the face of the guard, but was quickly plucked away by the second Machoke, who held the flailing Larvitar at arm's length by his horn.

Susan took as deep a breath as the current compression of her ribcage would allow. "Sorry about this," she muttered to the guard holding her down, before swinging her leg backward between his legs and into...well, what she assumed was a very sensitive spot.

Her prediction turned out to be accurate; whether it was the force of the impact or the precision with which her blow landed, the guard released her on reflex, allowing her to crawl free. She stood up and put her fingers to her lips, before whistling as loudly as she could.

Nothing happened at first. But before long, from nowhere, the crowds of passersby parted to reveal Basil bounding toward her. The Bayleef seemed to instantly know what was going on. Whipping his head around as he ran, Basil summoned around him a miniature cyclone of leaves. The leaves floated around him for a moment, then, as if magnetized, flew at high velocity toward the guard pinning Penny to the ground. The leaves sent the guard flying backward; Penny used the opportunity to stand up and yank Goji out of the Machoke's hand.

With both guards reeling, Susan seized the opportunity. "Joker! Please! Use Confusion already!"

Joker, who this whole time had sat completely ignored, blinked his vacant eyes. Then, as if suddenly awash with understanding, he seemed to focus for a moment, before projecting a beam of pinkish energy right into the head of the Machoke fighting Roxi. The Machoke stumbled backward, clutching its head, giving Roxi enough time to deliver a staggering blow that knocked the Superpower Pokémon on its rear.

The Heracross disengaged and ran over to join her master as the guards finally regained their feet. The second Machoke went to help the first stand again, then steadied itself into a fighting stance. One of the guards barked an order at the Machoke, and it flew forward to deliver a punishing haymaker-

" _That's enough!"_

Before Susan could process what was happening, a wall of light had materialized into being between her and the guards. From the other side, the Machoke's punch only elicited a loud _CLANG_ as it bounced off harmlessly.

"What's the meaning of this? Have none of you been taught not to engage in large-scale battles in public?"

Susan whirled to see a familiar face approaching them, a large winged reptile floating by her side.

"That'll do, Aeolus," Clair said, looking back at her Dragonite. The beast nodded, vanishing into his Poke Ball (the prismatic wall disappearing along with him).

"Now then," she continued, looking in turn at Penny, Susan and the security guards. "What's all this about?"

Susan started to speak, but was so tongue-tied that only a few aimless syllables made their way out. Meanwhile, the guards, who had the benefit of being significantly less flustered, began to report.

"We got reports of these two trespassing on the office floor," one of the guards explained. "They were spotted by a guard on patrol, and instead of turning themselves over, they fled the scene and assaulted the officer who attempted to give chase."

"And then they attacked us," the other guard chimed in. "We had them under control, but the younger girl there attacked my partner in an effort to get free. We were just in the process of bringing them in again when you arrived."

As they talked, Susan kept her eyes firmly on the ground. She couldn't bear to look her idol in the eye...not after this. It didn't help that she could almost feel Clair's glare boring into the back of her head as she stood there.

Penny, meanwhile, still seemed to have something to say. "Well, if you hadn't pinned us down like that-"

"Enough."

"But they nearly broke my arm-"

" _I said, enough!"_

Clair's outburst seemed to be the only thing capable of rendering Penny utterly silent. Susan knew that tone well-that was the yell she used when she was confronting suspects or trying to break open a difficult interrogation. As angry as she sounded, Susan knew could only be a fraction of what was going on inside.

A weighty silence settled in. Every second felt like an eternity as Susan waited for the other shoe to drop, for Clair to turn them in, for her and Penny to be put in jail or whatever was going to happen.

And then...

"It seems there's been something of a misunderstanding," Clair said at last. "These girls were clearly lost upstairs, and were attempting to return safely to the main lobby."

Susan couldn't believe her ears. She looked up at Clair, confusion painted on her face, as she continued.

"These girls are hardly capable of assaulting anyone, let alone three trained security guards. They had simply found themselves in a confusing and unfamiliar situation, and wanted to extricate themselves as efficiently as possible. That's all."

The two guards looked at each other in disbelief. "But they were-"

"There's no need for further action; I can handle this personally."

"But-"

"I said, that is all. The two of you may return to your posts."

The security guards hesitated for a moment, as if not sure what to do. Then, at last, with a distrustful glance back at Susan and Penny, they turned and headed back to their assignments.

Susan went over to help Penny off the ground, then turned back to Clair, who still stood with her back to them. Before she could speak up to thank her-

"That was foolish of you."

Susan's words died in her mouth. What she had been about to say now lost all importance as Clair continued.

"You're both old enough to know better than snooping around where you're not supposed to be. Running off on your own will get you into serious trouble if you aren't careful."

"But-" Penny tried to protest.

"No buts." Clair turned and took a knee, looking right at Susan. She could see something in the woman's eyes as they made contact with her own-was it worry?

"There's a lot of things I like about this job," Clair continued, her voice softening ever so slightly. "But one of the things I don't like, one of the things that make me feel terrible inside...is finding out about little girls like you who knew better, but did something stupid anyway, and ended up being hurt...or worse."

A chill began to wrap around Susan. Her mind began to dwell on what might have happened if the caped man-Eusine, that is-had opened the door all the way, with her and Penny still there...

"I want you to promise me you're not going to go off on your own like that again." It felt like Clair was almost looking through her now. "Or else there may not be someone there to help you next time. Understand?"

"I…" Susan stammered. "I-I...I under-"

"Susan? Penny!"

Susan, caught off guard, turned to see Ryan running up to them. "Where have you two been? You missed the best part! Jasmine completely dominated the Relay Race and set a new record in the Block Smash."

What caught her attention, though, was Antoine, who just sort of stared at her, halfway between fury and relief. For the moment, though, he didn't say anything.

"Where exactly have you been, anyway?" Ryan asked.

"O-Oh, uh...well…" Susan felt the blood rushing to her cheeks. She hadn't even thought up a cover story. "Well, um...I was going to the bathroom, and then I ran into-"

She turned to gesture to Clair, but instead found herself indicating an empty space. She was already gone.

"I-uh…" She was scrambling now. "Well, she was here, but-"

"It was that cop lady you guys mentioned," Penny chimed in, much to Susan's relief. "I was going to the bathroom too. I just happened to catch them mid-conversation."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "And what did you talk about, exactly?"

"Oh, you know...girly stuff. Celebrity crushes, makeup, that sort of thing. Nothing you two would be interested in."

Penny was certainly trying her best, but the look on Ryan's face seemed to indicate his disbelief. After a moment, though, he just nodded.

"Right, well...just as long as you weren't doing anything illegal, I suppose." He glanced back at Antoine. "Antoine told me he's planning on taking on the local Gym tomorrow, so I should probably leave you guys alone so he can train."

Antoine still wasn't saying anything. Instead, his eyes were fixated on Susan, giving her a look that made her suddenly feel very small.

"We'll meet up tomorrow," Ryan continued as he headed for the front doors. "See you guys."

Susan mumbled out a goodbye, her eyes still trying to avoid her brother's. Everything she'd learned over the last several minutes felt completely useless now.

"So, uh…" Penny spoke up again. "Are we just gonna spend the rest of the day standing here, or…"

Without a word, Antoine walked off toward the exit as well, leaving the two girls behind.

"Wow…" Penny whispered as they watched him walk away. "What's his problem, do you think?"

Susan thought she knew, but didn't want to answer.


End file.
